Fantasy or Reality
by Commander Kitsune
Summary: After experiencing a very bad day, my PS2 transfers my body and mind into the world of Final Fantasy IX. There I have to gather the team to take on Brahne, Kuja and Garland. M rated for future lemons. OC x Garnet.
1. Chapter 1: A Newcomer in Gaia

_**Standard Issue Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX is the property of Squaresoft/SquareENIX. All characters, locations, and concepts except for original creations belong to them.**_

**[AN Warning: This fic has a low update rate. The chapter updates will be few and far between once all the current chapters I've written so far are on the site but it might be more. Depends on if I have major writers block on my other stories, or if one particular story is finished. You have been warned.]**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: A Newcomer in Gaia<strong>

I just had the most fucked up day in my life. For those of you reading this, my life is probably sugar-coated compared to yours, but, what the hell. I'm normally a very easy going guy, but even I have my limits. Going from getting up late due to studying into the early morning, failing the exam that you were studying for, then be late for work, again, and getting fired because of it and then realising you have to go back to government benefits again to try and find work again. Then coming back to realise that you needed to take back several videos that were a few days overdue and you are too broke to catch a bus to the store. Then you spot the internet _and_ the electric bill in your mailbox that need to be paid by the end of the week and its Friday. That sums up my day. Go on, say it. My day is one of the worst.

Of course Naruto has had it worse than me so it's hard to feel sorry for myself. And all the kids more unfortunate than me in the world makes it almost impossible for me. But somehow I manage. I lay on my bed, feeling sorry for myself. Yeah, call me selfish asshole and all the rest. At that moment those words would fall on deaf ears.

Deciding that it would be better to remove said anguish at the moment, I sit up on my bed and look at my 46 inch LCD TV. I know I should sell it, but I bought it for gaming and so that is what I'll be using it for. I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking 'Where'd he get the money for that?' Well I got some inheritage money awhile back worth to about ten grand. So I used said money to buy the TV, PS2, PS3, X-Box 360 and a nice pile of anime, mostly Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and Pokémon.

Well I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Josh Ryu Kitsune. My second and last name used to be Cade Anthony but I never really liked those names. After I got the money I changed them to the Japanese translations of my favourite animals; foxes and dragons.

My likes are to listen to music, hang out with my friends, foxes, dragons, anime, good food and travelling. Thanks to the second last one I'm slightly chubby. My dislikes are people who disrespect my friends, spiders, snakes, pumpkin and arrogant people. My hobbies are sword fighting, enjoying sunsets and thunderstorms, and playing video games. And my dream for the future is to become a rare sword collector.

Now, back to what I'm doing; relieving stress. Wait, that's not right; if I wanted to relieve stress I would play Burnout: Paradise. No, this was more a need to 'escape reality without using your imagination much' and 'I need to experience a story because I feel very lonely'. Books require you to use your imagination a little more than when you are playing an RPG or Role Playing Game. Not that I don't like reading, not at all. I just feel lazy right now. Anyways, who cares! And since I don't have a girlfriend I can hold on to so the hole in my heart will disappear, I have to go with alternative ways of patching up the hole for a few seconds. Yeah, I sound pathetic, but being alone changes you. Especially when you know what it was like to have someone to love. I did. Least that's what I thought at the time. But I'm getting off track.

I reached for my PS2, it was the old bulky version, and opened the disk drawer. Seeing something that I didn't want to play, an earlier version of Burnout, I removed the disk and fumbled in my bookshelf for the cover. Finding it I started the task of choosing what to play. 'Something in the good old Final Fantasy series,' I thought as I sorted through all the games to pick out all the FF games I had. I had VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, XII, XIII, the recently released XIII-2 and Dirge of Cerberus. I wasn't a fan of either XI or XIV; MMORPGs weren't my thing. Except for Star Wars: The Old Republic. That was different. That actually had a good story. Good old BioWare.

I decided to go with something I hadn't played in a while. Final Fantasy IX it is then! I opened the case and popped the first disk into the drive and closed the lid. I then turned on the TV and set it to the right channel. "Ah, my PlayStation 2, my dear electronic friend that provides me with many hours of entertainment," I said as I turned on the PlayStation 2. I enjoyed the opening FMV before the New Game/Load Game screen. The music was relaxing.

I watched the Squaresoft title appear before me. Then see the cargo ship dock into Lindbulm. The scene changed to the giant statue of the Burmecian king at Burmecia. Then the great Lifa tree, where the mist is spawned from. I then saw the Prima Vista gliding over the mist. The screen went black for a moment to show the dismissal of Odin, followed by the summoning of Alexandria. The unmasking of Cleyra and then a beautiful overview of the city of Alexandria. But then the whole place darkened. Not just the screen, but my whole room darkened to black.

At first I thought it was just a blackout but two reasons stamped that out. The first reason was that the room had darkened gradually. A blackout doesn't do that. And second was that the music was still playing. Since I couldn't see anything, I relied on my hearing. It felt that the music was slowly being wrapped around me. 'That's weird,' I thought. Then I felt myself float, yes that's right, float, out of my bed.

"Oh shit! What the fuck is going on?" I shouted out into the black void that was in front of me, for it looked like that. Then I saw a huge blue shining crystal surrounded by those rings that are found around globes of the world, fly over my head and settle on the left side of my vision. I couldn't help but feel that I had seen that same crystal before.

Then it happened. Words formed out of the darkness.

FINAL FANTASY IX

"…Holy Shit…" I breathed as the words 'New Game' appeared under the main title. The music then softened until it disappeared. What replaced it was a soft musical humming. There appeared to be no 'Load Game' included but that thought didn't last in my mind. "Am I… inside the game?" I asked out loud. As soon as the words left my mouth a rectangular semi transparent shape roughly the size of my TV materialised in front of me. In bold letters, words were formed.

…**Yes, you are.**

"What the?" I said, confused. The words then were wiped to be replaced with more.

…**No, you are not dreaming.**

I gasped slightly as that was what I was just thinking about. "So… who are you?" I asked.

…**That is difficult to explain.**

"Well, then try to put it simply," I offered, trying to be polite despite the circumstances.

…**Very well. I am your PlayStation 2.**

Silence.

"Wh… Wha… WHAT?"

…**A normal reaction in this scenario. However I cannot hold this portal open forever so I will send you through now.**

"What are you talking about?" is what I wanted to say but the floor opening up didn't give me a chance to do so. Instead I just screamed as I fell into the dark depths. The black void then changed to a blinding white and I felt myself hitting something that felt like glass. How I knew is that the object I smashed into broke into a thousand pieces and I felt a massive amount of information being forced into my mind. That was when the whole world blacked out.

* * *

><p>I woke up, feeling like I slept on a pile of rocks. I certainly knew that my bed was a soft one so I was confused. But the sharp smell of urine, smoke, and booze entered my nose. I wrinkled it, and pinched my nose. I didn't feel skin upon skin. I felt leather upon skin, which made me realize that my hands were covered.<p>

I knew that laying there would simply be a stupid thing to do, so I pushed myself up from where I had supposedly laid. I couldn't see anything, my surroundings strangely dark. I found that I was lying on a pile of rocks. Well, more like broken cobblestone.

I looked back and forth. This was just unfamiliar. I scratched my head, feeling really stupid at the moment.

"Where the hell am I?"

I looked down, shocked to see that my clothes were gone, replaced by these… new clothes.

A grey shirt that prominently showed my buff form; something that I knew I didn't have before. A pair of timberwolf grey cargo pants which had a multitude of pockets. On my feet was a pair of boots that looked like Cloud's boots from Advent Children. I also had tight and thin black leather gloves on my hands. A black leather trench coat was over the shirt. And attached to my back was a friggin Cleaver sword. I grasped the handle and drew the blade to get a closer look at it. It was roughly 60 inches long and surprisingly light; about as heavy as a normal Katana. The design was almost an exact replica of Clouds Buster sword. The only few differences were that there were no materia holes; the hilt wasn't gold and didn't have a fancy design; and that the handle was a carbon copy of the handle of Zabuza's Kubikiri Houchou. Oh and that the blade was ebony black. I swung the sword, realising that I knew how to handle the blade really well. I slung the pitch black sword into its original spot, on my back, and ran a hand through my spiky hair. _Wait a minute… I don't have spiky hair…_

I ran both my hands through my hair this time and realized that it was in a completely different style than before. The top, sides and fringe were short and spiky, while the back was very long and straight. I grabbed a few locks of the long pony tail at the back and saw that there were red streaks through it. _Awesome._ I look into a window only to see exotic red eyes looking back at me. _Double awesome. _And to top off the bad ass image, a pair of orange/yellow sunrise lenses Teashade glasses were resting on my forehead. I took off the glasses and studied them closely. I had always wanted a pair after watching Trigun and seeing Vash's. In fact, these glasses looked exactly like his, even the 'W' bend arms were the same. I pushed the glasses back onto my face. I then realised that, despite the orange tint the teashades had, I could still see the world without any orange tint over it. That was a good thing.

I sighed, wondering where I was. An alleyway or something. While I breathed, I felt myself becoming sick from the mixture of disgusting scents, and I knew immediately that I needed some fresh air. So with slight trepidation, I allowed my feet to take me out of that alleyway, and right into the street.

The world suddenly got a whole lot brighter and, even though my sunglasses filtered out most of the glare, the sudden change made me bring up a hand to shade my eyes. But everything became clearer as my eyes immediately adjusted to the brightness.

_Did I journey back in time or something?_

I stepped forward in awe, looking at everything around me. I was in a street, but not the concrete and car-riddled streets that I was used to. No, this one was of cobblestone, where earthen rocks decorated the ground beneath me. In between cobblestone crevices were dirt and sand, while weeds grew in the cracks and spaces. Old quaint houses lined the street, with ancient looking signs and structures. And the people, the people! There weren't just humans… there were… there were… animals?

No, no, that wasn't it. They were like humans, but they had animal attributes. Anthropomorphic beings is the word I was looking for. But… it was so odd, seeing them wearing clothes that I knew would never exist in my time, or where I came from.

Where I came from… this definitely was not where I came from. This definitely was not my home. This place was a _lot_ more crowded than my home, and my home's a major city! And… this was definitely no place I've been to before, and definitely a place that I'll never find on… Earth.

WTF?

"Toto, I don't think we're in Australia anymore…" I softly said beneath my breath, despite not having a dog called Toto. "In fact… I might as well chuck Earth into that statement."

As I was backing away in pure shock and slowly gathering the information I needed to realize my destination, I bumped right into someone. I heard a childish yelp and saw someone collapse, which meant the person was a tiny thing. I hadn't budged at all. "Oh, shit, sorry bout that!" I reached to help him up, only to find a small piece of paper fall near my feet. My helping hand went to snatch the thing up, and my red eyes involuntarily read its contents.

Seeing what it read made my heart stop.

On it said, '**I Want to Be Your Crow.**'

_No… way…_ My hand began to shake, an action of surprise and shock, while my heartbeat began to quicken in panic. Everything clicked, everything fit, and the puzzle of my whereabouts was solved. Yet, doubt was rising in me, that this was in fact a dream, and when I saw all this, I'd wake up to my normal room, sitting in front of my TV.

"Ahh…" My attention drew back on the person in front of me. I slowly looked down and saw him adjusting what appeared to be… an old mage hat. He wore a second-hand overcoat of basic blue, which looked to be swimming over him. The green-white pinstriped trousers looked to be 3 sizes wider and was held up by a single belt. And then… he looked up towards the sky, and I saw it. The perpetual black shroud that covered his head, while yellow orbs glowed in shrouded blackness.

_Oh god._

_It's Vivi._

The little black mage stood up, when voices erupted from all around us.

"It's the Prima Vista!"

"Tantalus is here!"

"Hooray!"

The cheers made me gasp as I looked straight up with wide eyes. Right above me, high above me, was the Prima Vista itself. Its massive body cast an enormous shadow over us, blocking the sun in its entirety. I watched in awe as the ship soared through the air and towards its destination, Alexandria, the castle that housed… Princess Garnet.

I stood there, frozen in shock. I stared at the ship as it flew towards the castle, not caring if I was blocking any busy pedestrian around me. I was attempting to bring forth some sort of logical explanation for this, but I could not. This was either happening, or this was a realistic dream of the video game version of the opening. I have no clue, or it could be that my mind's playing tricks on me.

And if it was real… it couldn't be. It couldn't be possible… and yet… everything around me felt real. The smells, the sights, the sensations and sounds, everything was working. All my senses were captivated by everything, and everything was happening without further distraction. There were no sudden shifts or changes like dreams had, nor did it have things that made any sense… for now. Then I remembered the scene that happened before I got knocked out. My conversation with someone claiming to be my PS2. At this point I felt that, for the moment, I would accept what was going on. Not that I have a clue what is going on.

So… here I stand… on Gaia.

In Alexandria.

Right next to Vivi, with the Prima Vista now exiting my sights.

I was in Final Fantasy 9.

_Holy shit… How is this possible?_ I thought.

'**You're here because I made it possible,' **said a male voice I didn't recognise. And it made matters worse that it was inside my head.

_Who… who are you?_ I asked.

'**I'm the PS2, remember?'**

_Riiiight… the PS2…._

'**We'll talk later. Right now you'd better get Vivi to the show.'**

"…Wow."

I looked down as a voice broke my confusing conversation, and I found Vivi still staring at the span of air that the airship once flew through. Perhaps he was taking in the moment, remembering the sensation that he probably experienced upon the sight of the airship. He looked like how he'd look in the game, except one thing, he really did look real. He didn't look at all cartoon-y or how he looked in the game, he looked real. Real clothes, the real hat, and I could even see the shape of his head despite the darkness that was his skin. The clothes themselves swamped him and he definitely had a thin body. I was glad that leather belt kept that overcoat of his from falling off, and I have no idea how those pants didn't fall. Heck, even his boots looked 2 sizes too large for him, I reckon people thought he was either too poor to get clothes his size, or was just some kid whose parents didn't even consider whether it'd fit him or not.

I say it was the parent, or whoever raised him who gave him those huge clothes. Yep, that Qu was definitely big, and Vivi was probably stuck with clothes that only the Qus could have fitted at the time. As for my comment, he had clothes that'd better suit a clown. But that'd be a horrible thing to say, the kid was Vivi, the character I always sympathized and liked. Plus when his skills with Black Magic grow he'll become a walking, talking weapon of mass destruction. And who doesn't love to blow things up?

I realised that I'm still holding the fake ticket. I kneeled down so I would look less threatening, pushed up my teashades to my forehead and leaned forward so that my kick ass sword didn't scrape the pavement. He noticed the movement and looked at me. I smiled warmly and handed him the ticket.

"This yours, kiddo?" I asked, even though I already knew it was.

He hesitated for a moment, his hand floating just before the ticket, quivering with obvious nervousness. But with tiny fingers, he grasped the far end of the ticket. "Um… thanks." Geez, the guy was scared senseless, did I look THAT intimidating or something? I decided to smile again and did so. "No problem."

Vivi seemed to relax a bit, which I'm thankful for. Didn't want to scare the kid any more. He then started to walk away when I called to him. "You goin' to the play?" He nodded. _I should tell him about the ticket._

"You're going to have a hard time getting in cause it's a fake." I said, feeling horrible that I had to spill the beans. He looked confused. "How do you know?" he asked, a small amount of disbelief in his voice. I didn't blame him for not believing me. Would you if a random guy came up to you in the street and said that the earth was round and not flat back in the dark ages?

"Well, take a look at the title, what's it say?" I had to clue him in on that. I mean, he'd find out later, so might as well let him know now.

"It says I Want to be Your…" His orbish eyes widened. _Ding! Congratulations kiddo! You now realise that you were swindled. Welcome to real life. _ "CROW? But I paid so much for it…"

I feel so bad for him. _Well I'll just help him with that._

"You can still see the play." I said.

Now that got his attention. He perked up immediately. Wait, I can't say perked, but he looked hopeful. "Really?"

"Yeah! Just follow me. I'll get ya there." I said enthusiastically as I stood back up and pushed my teashades back over my eyes. "Shall we go?" Vivi nodded and we both moved to the main plaza.

* * *

><p>[AN: Tell me what you think guys. That means review!]<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: We're Not Slaves!

_**Standard Issue Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX is the property of Squaresoft. All characters, locations, and concepts except for original creations belong to them.**_

**Chapter 2: We're Not Slaves!**

Vivi followed me as I walked back into the alleyway I started from. As the two of us walked towards the alleyway, I immediately heard the pounding of Dante's hammer. Really, how long does it take one to hammer a nail into a simple sign? It's not as if he's making a building. In the words of Titus from Final Fantasy X Abridged, SquareENIX failure! Oh, well… At least this means Puck hasn't taken Dante's ladder, yet.

As I was not paying attention to Vivi, I failed to notice that we were passing the point in the alleyway where Vivi trips. He tripped, and fell hard on his hands and knees.

"Blast it!" Dante shouts as the sign hangs off on one side.

Ignoring the fat guy on the ladder for a moment, I bent down and helped Vivi to his feet. Vivi adjusted his hat in embarrassment as soon as he stood up.

"You ok kiddo?" I asked. Vivi just nodded.

"Hey!" Dante shouted, directing his anger at Vivi by shaking his hammer at him. "You made me miss, you little klutz!"

"Maybe your skills are just crap, jerk!" I retorted in Vivi's defence. I didn't swear cause Vivi was next to me. If he wasn't I would give him a piece of my mind.

Dante just grumbled angry words to himself as he climbed back up his ladder and fixed the sign. After a few whacks from his hammer, the sign was fixed.

Yeah, I know. That is just so messed up. Another SquareENIX Failure!

"Whew. That should do it," Dante sighed.

He climbed back down the ladder and stretched his arms out. I winced as he gave us a lovely view of his bushy armpit hair. Nasty…

"Well, it's been a long day," Dante yawned. He then proceeded to walk away from the scene, leaving his ladder leaning against the building.

Just as Dante exited the alleyway, and felt the wrath of my Level 9 death glare, a rat boy ran into the alleyway the opposite side of where Dante left. He looked behind himself for a second to see if anyone was coming before he ran over to the ladder. He wore a red beret, red overalls and a green shirt underneath making him appear very young and childish.

"Hey, you! Shrimp!" Puck suddenly addressed Vivi causing him to take a step back and me to eye Puck critically. 'Shrimp? Guess who's self-projecting,' "You're the one with the phony ticket, ain'tcha? I saw this guy-" he pointed at me, "-tell you it was a fake!"

"Y-Yeah," Vivi admited. "It's a fake."

Puck then turned his attention to me. "You didn't even give the Ticketmaster a ticket! So that must mean you don't even have one!"

"Really? I really didn't know that, but thanks for enlightening me," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. This boy sure does love to just throw out accusations rather than just politely ask about the situation. "I can get you guys in to see the play. That is, if you agree to be my slaves. Well, whaddya say?"

"How bout we just help you out. No calling us slaves, for that's just rude." I said.

Puck seemed to think about this for a while, as if he's weighing the pro's and con's. Finally he nodded. "Awright, you both go stand over there and see if anyone's comin'!"

Walking over with Vivi to the part of the alleyway we entered in from, I wondered to myself why Puck would even bother looking out for people. The only ones Puck really has to worry about is one of the guards catching him or Dante. Can't we just leave now to see the play?

"All clear?" Puck called out to us. I gave the area in front of Vivi and me one last glimpse before turning to the rat child. Vivi turned at the same time as me to face Puck, too.

"Yeah, yeah," I responded in a lazy tone.

"Awesome!" Puck cheered with a toothy grin. "Engage according to mission parameters!"

…well that sure was a mouthful; you don't hear that coming out of a kid's mouth every day, do you? Someone's been playing too much Scrabble.

Puck scurried over to the ladder and lifted it up. Since it's technically only a couple feet or so bigger than me and made of wood, the ladder isn't that heavy, so I don't offer to help carry it. Yeah, you're right. I am lazy.

After lifting the ladder onto his shoulder so that it tilted to the side a bit in order to distribute the weight, Puck took off down the alleyway and around the corner. Yeah, uh, thanks for waiting.

Just as I predicted, once Vivi and I turn the corner we found ourselves in front of a very angry looking Puck. Someone needed to tell this kid that patience is a virtue.

"Where have you guys been!" he shouted. "I've been waiting here forever."

"Awfully short forever," I said as I contemplated the few seconds that it took to catch up to him.

"Whatever! We have to hurry now! The play's going to start soon!" Puck exclaimed, running off toward the steeple. With that attitude, one can only come to the conclusion that something was stuck up his arse. If he keeps this up, I don't care if he is a prince, I'll whack him upside the head.

Rushing after Puck and into the steeple, Vivi and I ended up coming to a quick halt when we saw Puck just standing around. Vivi blinks, walking up to Puck to see what has caused him to stop.

"Now we're going to climb up this tower!" What? No waaay! And if you were wondering, then yes, that was sarcasm. "It's very dangerous." Puck turned to me. "You go first."

"Fine," I said, knowing what was going to happen anyways. I didn't want Vivi getting hurt. I walked up to the ladder inside the tower, and held out my arms as if to catch something. Sure enough a large, pink, furry thing fell into my arms. "Thanks for that, kupo!" the moogle said to me with his red pom-pom thing bouncing. Must… resist… temptation to… touch…

"That's Kupo," Puck told us while grinning. "He's a moogle."

"Kupo!" Kupo responded. I supposed that must translate to "Yeah!" or something along those lines. Kupo seemed to cover many things depending on the context. Like saying Kree in Goa'uld in the Stargate SG-1 series.

"And this is slave number one!" Puck proudly announced while pointing to Vivi. He then pointed his grubby claw at me. "That's slave number two!"

That's it.

WHACK!

"Owww! What was that for?" yelled Puck as he held his arms to his head. Yeah, I did smack him upside the head.

"We're not slaves." I said slowly to make sure he got it. He grumbled softly to himself.

"Kupo! Pleased to meet you! I sorry. I enter you in Moogle Diary! Just ask us moogles when you want to use tent, and we won't charge you extra, kupo!" Kupo explained to Vivi and me. Good thing he didn't start harping on about Memory Cards or I would have been very suspicious.

Vivi adjusted his hat before responding along with me, "Thanks."

"Glad I can help you, kupo!" Kupo replied gleefully.

"All right!" said Puck as he got over his depression. "Time for some upward mobility!"

Really, what kind of kid talks like that! Must be his royal upbringing. Maybe they forced the little critter to swallow a dictionary.

Puck shifted the ladder in order to enable him to climb up the tower. Once he climbed up to the top, I could hear him shifting the ladder around, again.

"Okay, come on up, slaves!" Puck ordered us as soon as he was settled.

"Puck…" I growled as I pushed my teashades up and looked up at him with an evil glint in my red eyes. He saw this and gulped. "I-I mean… come on up… guys?" My answer was letting Vivi climb first.

Small footsteps make their way into the steeple, causing me to turn around to see who it was. A moogle wearing a raggedy green hood and a brown leather backpack walked into the area toward Kupo. Well, here's the moogle we all know and love.

"Kupo? You here?" Stiltzkin asked in a soft voice. It sounded much more mature sounding than Kupo's, making the moogle seem ages older.

"Kupo! Stiltzkin? You leaving, kupo?" Kupo asked in a sad voice.

"Yeah," Stiltzkin replied. "And this time I might be away for a long time."

"I'll miss you, kupo," Kupo said in a much more solemn voice.

"Now, don't you worry. I'll write," Stiltzkin promised, and this seemed to cheer up Kupo a bit. "Well, I'm off! Take care!" Stiltzkin waved goodbye, but suddenly turned around. "Oh! Say hi to Mosh in the castle for me!"

I watched as Stiltzkin left, and as soon as the renowned moogle is out of earshot, I asked, "Was that a friend of yours?"

"Yes, kupo," Kupo replied. "A very special one, kupo!"

Looking at the ladder and seeing Vivi near the top, I decided to start climbing. The tower was actually very narrow, and the ladder bars were tinged with rust. If one of these breaks, I'm suing… with my nonexistent lawyer.

Once at the top of the tower, Vivi somehow found the room to adjust his hat for the third or fourth time.

"All right, the play's going to start if we don't hurry!" Puck announced in a blunt indication for us to stop lounging around. But I wanted to go get some rooftop gil!

Taking the lead, Puck scurried across the first board connecting the rooftops together. I took off after him, trying to focus my attention on my destination rather than the street beneath me. After reaching the other side, I stopped with the sudden remembrance that Vivi was terrified of heights. Crap, I should have stayed with him…

"Come on! Get over here!" Puck ordered Vivi who was warily inspecting the board. At this show of uncertainty, Puck realized what Vivi's problem was. "Lemme guess… You're afraid of heights, aren't you? It's okay! Just pretend you're on the ground!"

"Yeah!" I called over to him. "You can do it! Just don't look down and you'll be fine!"

Vivi weakly nodded his head at our show of support. Tentatively, he crossed across the board, shuddering at each squeak the board made when it was strained by Vivi's weight. As soon as he made it across the board and onto the roof we're on, he collapsed onto the roof. For the third time since waking up in this world, I helped Vivi back up with a smile on my face.

"Nice job kiddo!" I congratulated him. Vivi just nodded his head a bit.

"Come on!" Puck ordered us. "We're running out of time!"

Noticing that the sun was practically set, I could fully agree with Puck that we were running out of time. In fact, we would only have a few minutes to get to the play before it begun.

We both followed Puck to the next board where he quickly ran across it. I hesitated, deciding to weigh my options first. If I crossed, the platform would fall and leave Vivi stranded here, and we obviously can't have that. If Vivi crossed, the platform will still fall, and the rooftops are too far apart for me to jump it. This left us with the last option of crossing it at the same time. We would just have to be quick.

"Not again…" Puck sighed in reference to Vivi. "Don't worry! It won't fall!"

Yeah, right. You just love trying to hurt us, you little shit. ...I didn't say anything about swearing with my thoughts, did I?

"C'mon," I said. "We'll both cross at the same time, all right?"

Vivi nodded his head in agreement. He didn't know that I'm doing this because the board is going to fall, but he was still afraid of heights.

Letting Vivi get on the board first, I grabbed his shoulders in order to balance the shaky black mage and pushed him across the platform. Just as Vivi stepped onto the rooftop, the board fell, and I leaped onto the rooftop to avoid falling down with it. Thank god no one was around at this time. Not only would someone have gotten hurt, but we would have gotten caught.

"Hahaha," Puck laughed at our distress. "I guess it fell. Well, no point in worrying about that now, right?"

"Wrong."

WHACK!

Puck rushed off to the next platform, holding his head. As soon as Vivi and I caught up with the fast rat, he turned to us with a curious look on his face. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I don't even know your names!"

"I'm Josh," I responded first.

"I'm Vivi," Vivi said after a moment.

"Josh and Vivi, huh? Funny names… My name's Puck! Pleased ta meetcha!" Now, tell me, how is Puck a completely normal name compared to ours? If anything his name suggests that he's good for whacking around on a sheet of ice.

Following Puck across the rooftops, I immediately noticed Vivi's lack of fear regarding heights now. In the game, I guess Vivi really did like Puck because he helped him get over his fear of heights. Instead of taking the negative traits of Puck (being pushy, rude, and insensitive), he took the one positive one Puck had. That's our Vivi, though. He had a heart of gold—and eyes of gold, too.

Finally, the three of us reached the last rooftop. Puck threw the ladder into position to allow us access to the final rooftop.

"Whew! We finally made it!" Puck said, turning toward us. "After that wall, we'll be inside the castle! Let's go!"

Excitement brimming in all of our eyes, we climbed up the ladder and hurriedly followed after Puck. I was a bit nervous, but it's probably because we were illegally seeing the play. There's nothing I should be concerned about, right? I just hope everything runs smoothly now…or at least goes as it is supposed to.

I couldn't help but feel that something different will happen this time.


	3. Chapter 3: The Performance Begins

_**Standard Issue Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX is the property of Squaresoft. All characters, locations, and concepts except for original creations belong to them.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: The Performance Begins<strong>

Huh. There were more people than I thought there would be. Sure, almost all of them were nobles, but it was still a lot of people for just a play. Definitely wasn't like the school plays I used to be in where only the parents and a few close friends showed up. So, this was all mildly amusing to me. I took it by Vivi's expression (his eyes getting bigger than natural) that he was pretty excited. Puck seemed a bit unfazed though, so I guessed he'd been to many other events like this.

"Excuse me. Demonic Badass Lord of Awesomness with the Sword of God, barging through!" I said as we pushed past the nobles toward the small aisle which was probably used to get to the seats. I hoped none of the guards would catch us, even though I knew they would eventually, but this place seemed pretty packed so they probably wouldn't notice us until later.

The music ended and everybody began clapping. Not wanting to look out of place the three of us began clapping, too. I wasn't a huge fan of band music, other than Big Band Jazz music, but I resigned to make an exception just this once. Plus, this was all the music this world probably had. I guess there'd be no Daft Punk songs at the start.

Suddenly, everything went dark. The crowd (excluding me) looked on anxiously. The building where the musicians were playing suddenly lifted up as fireworks shot out from the ground. Vivi jumped up a bit, surprised. Puck just grined in amusement. I, on the other hand, pay little attention to the bright, shiny lights... which is near impossible for me, as I love me some fireworks.

Looking over toward the side of the castle walls I came across the balcony Queen Brahne and Princess Garnet were in. Queen Brahne had gotten up and started twirling around. I felt like hurling. Like those old hags you see in horror movies. Her skin was blue and freckled with darker blue. She was so fat that her skin bagged down. She wore a robe that reminded me of a carpet for some odd reason. It looked royal though. Her hat also reminded me of a bended broom... or hay just made to look expensive like plastic stuff is. Cheap ass hag. She also waved around a shaded red, flower-patterned fan. I felt sorry for the fan.

Then I spotted Princess Garnet and I wolf whistled in my head. She looked hot in the game but now she looked straight up delicious! Zidane was so going to have some competition if I had anything to say about it. A beautiful brunet with hourglass curves that would make any lesser guy overcome with lust quickly. Even I was having a hard time controlling myself. She looked sad as she watched the stage. She seemed to notice that someone was looking at her and she swept her eyes over the crowd until her soft mocha orbs caught sight of my uncovered ruby red ones. I continued to look at her, careful not to turn the look into a lecherous stare. I didn't want to be rude.

Puck then elbowed me in my side to catch my attention. I look at him, ready to pummel his ass for stopping me from appreciating God's best work before I realised that Baku had walked on stage. I grinned a bit thinking that the pig man had played his role well as the greedy King Leo. A short applause was heard as he bowed down in greeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Tonight's performance is a story that takes place long, long ago. Our heroine, Princess Cornelia, is torn from her lover, Marcus. She attempts to flee the castle, only to be captured by her father, King Leo. When our story begins, Marcus, having heard of this, crosses swords with the king. And now, Your Royal Majesty, Queen Brahne, Your Highness, Princess Garnet..." Baku motioned to them and then back to the crowd. "…Noble ladies and lords, and our rooftop viewers, Tantalus proudly presents 'I Want to be Your Canary'!"

King Leo walked off to the side of the stage as the dramatic fighting music comes on. A man with a salmon-coloured bandana on his head, and blue tattoos on his arms appeared on stage with his sword drawn out at King Leo. Must be Marcus. I looked toward the centre of the stage to see three guys kneeling down.

One guy had thick red hair, and a band that covers his eyes. His arm had stitches which I could clearly see since he hardly wore anything. That had to be Blank. How the hell did he see anything?

The guy on the other side hardly wore anything either. He let his big belly show, which I really didn't think that was anything to be proud of. He wore an old white hat, but that wasn't what caught my eye. If Brahne made me want to hurl, then this guy made me want to commit sempuku with my sword. His face was just... woof! His red nose didn't help anything either. That had to be Cinna.

The guy in the middle was one that I recognized almost immediately, and a small smile crept over my face. He wore a sleeveless shirt that showed off his arm muscles quite well. His baggy, faded blue pants were held up by a leather belt. He wore grey gloves with blue cuffs. The cuffs looked like they were cut off from a royal suit. He had dirty blond hair that was slightly long, but compared to some guys I've seen it was actually pretty normal-sized. His eyes were an ocean blue full of joy and determination. The thing that most people would notice straight off the bat though was his golden tan monkey tail that swung back and forth slightly. Yes, my dear readers, this is Zidane. Woohoo! It's monkey boy! And let the fan-girls roar!

"Bereft of father! Bereft of mother! Marcus! Thou hast lost even thy love!" Blake exclaimed, standing up with his sword.

Cinna stood up next and said, "Fortune hath escap'd thee! For what end shalt they live?"

Zidane then stood up swinging his sword high in the air, "For the sake of our friend... Let us bury our steel in the heart of the wretched King Leo!"

Cinna and Blank quickly said at the same time in a determined voice, "Aye!"

Please, someone write a remixed version of this play soon. All this old English is making me cross-eyed. If I survive this game, I'll write the damn thing myself.

The three ran onto the stage behind Marcus. Lightening flashed in the air causing Vivi to jump back a bit. I loved thunderstorms so I didn't jump as violently as Vivi.

They faced King Leo and his henchmen. I could tell by the crowds' faces that they were all expecting a battle. I sat there, or rather stood, remembering what was going to happen soon.

"We shall back thee, kinsman!" Blake said from behind Marcus.

"Pray, sheathe thy swords!" Marcus ordered. "This villain is mine alone!"

"Nay, kinsman!" Cinna objected. "For I, too, have lost a brother to this fiend!"

King Leo swung his sword as a warning, "What ho? Out, vermin! Away! Thou darest bare thy sword before thee king? All who stand in my way will be crush'd!"

Marcus drew his sword with a _shing_ and pointed it at King Leo. Zidane then reciteed his line.

"Treacherous Leo, my kinsman's suffering shall not be in vain! For I shall instruct thee in his incomparable pain!"

Cue battle sequence. Blank attacked the guard quickly, defeating him in just one strike, making him seem ultra-powerful. Like using the Black Widow sniper rifle fully levelled up in Mass Effect 3. Cinna attacked King Leo, but King Leo blocked his attack pushing Cinna back. Zidane attacked the other guard quickly defeating that guard also. King Leo angrily rushed toward Marcus.

"Taste steel!" he shouted as he clashed his sword into Marcus'.

Marcus stumbled back a bit from the force. Marcus swung his sword at King Leo causing King Leo to stumble back. Cinna quickly slammed his hammer into King Leo's side. Zidane put his arms out in his magic performing position. I watched on as he gestured forward, then the stage effects appeared as a meteor slammed into King Leo, who pretended to be effected by it. Blank swung his sword out at King Leo, hitting him in the gut, but not really (just acted as if he did).

"Arrg…Grr…" King Leo growled before walking up the stairs. "Thou hast not seen the last of me, Marcus!"

"Come back!" Zidane shouted to King Leo before running towards the stairs. Blank blocked his way though.

"Out of the way, Blank!" Zidane ordered Blank, slashing his sword at him.

Blank just jumped back a bit to avoid getting hit. "Consider this, Zidane! If Prince Schneider were to marry Princess Cornelia, peace would rain over both their kingdoms!"

"'Tis foolishness!" Zidane snaped. "If all were so easy, why, none would suffer in this world!"

The fast-paced music for Zidane and Blank's sword fight scene cues in. They both ran up to the top of the castle. Zidane swiped at Blank who jumped over it. Blank swiped at Zidane who quickly dodged it. They both swiped at each other simultaneously so their swords clashed. Zidane then quickly swiped his sword at Blank again which Blank narrowly avoided by falling back. Finally, Blank jumped off the castle onto the stage with Zidane following closely behind. They ran off so that they were in front of the audience.

"En garde!" Blank shouted at Zidane.

"Expect no quarter from me!" Zidane warned.

Blank whispered something so that only Zidane could hear it. I looked on with a puzzled expression before I remembered that Zidane would have to follow Blank's orders since there was no PS2 controller attached to Zidane.

Blank slashed his sword at Zidane who quickly back fliped to avoid it. I was getting psyched to go into battle myself. Zidane then slashed his sword at Blank who ducked to miss it.

"Yeah! Go get him, Zidane!" Puck shouted, cheering Zidane on.

I watched the sword fight trying to remember what each move was. Square, X, Circle, X, Triangle, Left, Square, Right-no Triangle, Circle- no that's Right, X, Triangle… My head hurts. They moved much faster than in the game. They must've practiced a list of these moves for a long time to get this kind of fluidity out of it.

"We shall finish this later!" Blank exclaimed as he started running off towards the Alexandrian Castle.

"Come back here!" Zidane shouted, running after him.

The crowd applauded and threw gold and silver coins at them which I identified as Gil. I even saw Puck throw a batch of coins. Now Puck came off as the greedy type who was just too lazy to buy his own stuff… like a ticket to the show, and being the Prince of Burmecia you'd think it would be easy for him. I guess he's just a little cheap-ass rat.

"Hey look! It's the part where Marcus sneaks up to Princess Cornelia's room!" a noble girl in front of us exclaimed.

"Shh!" hushed what appeared to be her mother? She looked like a mannequin with all that makeup on.

I turned my attention back toward the play, which is actually about as boring as I thought it'd be. I theorized that there was some drama stuff done after the action scenes while I played the game. There was just all this mushy, romance stuff. Usually, I like a good chick flick, but it's so old-fashioned. It sort of reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. Maybe they should do a play with the 'It's Complicated' script. That'd be interesting to watch.

I wondered when Zidane and Garnet would arrive. It would be fun to see Baku's face. You couldn't really see it during the game, but here I could see it perfectly. Should I laugh aloud, or just point it out like a good critic?

_Swoosh!_ Feeling something just fly over me I looked up just in time to see Garnet jumping onto the roof of the orchestra's building that is perched over the play. Zidane followed closely behind her, jumping on it too. For a second, I considered telling Vivi and Puck, but I decided not to. They might ask too many questions.

The orchestra messed up a bit signalling that Garnet had knocked into all of them. She ain't very graceful, if you asked me. I mean, she landed on Zidane and messed up a whole orchestra just by running. That's pretty sad.

"What was that all about?" Puck questioned.

"To wake up the people that were sleeping," I replied with a grin. I then saw Steiner slam into the side of the ship and forced myself to not start laughing up a storm.

We watched as Marcus began fighting with the guards. He had been caught trying to get into the castle to see Princess Cornelia. The guards overtook Marcus in the end though. The crowd booed unhappy with that. Not at the show though, just at what happened. I guess people really eat this stuff up.

They brought Marcus offstage, and King Leo walked onstage looking very pleased and not to mention evil.

"Tonight, I shall finally see my daughter Cornelia betroth'd to Prince Schneider! And then Prince Schneider and his kingdom will be mine! Gwahahahaha!" King Leo laughed evilly.

The two guards that had captured Marcus came on stage holding Marcus hostage.

"Your Majesty!" one of the guards exclaimed to capture his attention.

"We have caught an intruder!" the other guard said.

King Leo walked up to them to stare Marcus in the eyes for a second before turning away from him. Marcus just glared at him.

"Why, my poor Marcus! Hark, lad. No matter how much thou dost treasure Cornelia…" King Leo paused and looked at Marcus again. "…No matter how deeply she might believe she doth love thee… Never shall I see her marry such a peasant as thee!" Asshole.

The sound of a bell echoed through the stage. It almost sounded like a church bell, but this one was full of dread from the tense atmosphere.

"When the bell strikes three… Under the axe thou shall be!" King Leo bellowed. He also rhymed… nice.

The bell struck a second time. Vivi was sort of bouncing in anticipation. He looked like how I used to look like at the end of the school day when I counted down the seconds until the bell rung. Of course, the clock goes much slower in those last few seconds for some odd reason. Maybe it's because they want to give the teachers one last chance to give us a detention. Those evil ticking bastards.

The bell rung a third time and King Leo shouted, "Furthermore!"

He abruptly stopped when two platforms rose up from under the stage, showing Zidane and the hooded princess on one platform, and Steiner in his rusty armour on the other one. The crowd whispered a bit, but soon stopped passing it off as part of the play.

I couldn't hear what they were whispering, but I could see Baku's expression. He looked very confused and slightly angry. He quickly went back to just a surprised expression as if it were all part of the play. Steiner, on the other hand, was looking around with his jaw dropped in a sort of daze.

Marcus suddenly broke free from the guards and ran to Garnet, "Cornelia!"

Garnet seemed a bit hesitant at first until Zidane nudged her whispering something. She then pulled Marcus into a hug. Lucky bastard.

"Oh, Marcus!" she said in a loving voice. Why can't that be me? It's not fair! I felt like pulling at the top of my shirt with my teeth in agony.

They all started whispering again until Baku whispered something. Everyone except Garnet and Steiner made a "T" sign with their hands. The crowd passed it off as nothing though. It's funny how you think people would react differently if this was real. I guess I was giving the people of this world too much credit.

"Oh, Marcus! I missed you so!" Garnet cried.

'Oh Garnet! I missed you too! I knew we had met before!' I cried out in my mind like a love sick puppy.

"I wish never to leave thy side. Prithee, lead me from this place!" Garnet said. She was a rather good actress.

'Yes Garnet! Let us run away from this place and this stupid play!' I cried out in my mind again. ...I don't have a girlfriend. Can you blame me? And Garnet wasn't a small pixelated form on the screen. She was now in glorious 3D... and real... as far as I could tell.

…No, not her breasts, dumbasses, even though I'm sure they're real too.

"See, King Leo," Zidane said suddenly. "Thou shouldst give them thy blessing!"

King Leo seemed to be contemplating, but that was quickly replaced by a furious expression. Crap…

"Never!" King Leo shouted. "Never leave his side, thou sayest? Foolish banter! I'll not allow it! Cornelia shall marry none other than this man-Prince Schneider! Is that not so, Prince Schneider?"

Steiner looked like he was about to faint, "M-Marry the princess? Me?"

Oh, fuck no! I don't think anyone wanted to see that! Least of all me!

King Leo ignored his comment though and turned to his henchman, "Aye! And this traitorous crew, I will put to death!"

Benero and Zenero (which I couldn't tell which was which) took Zidane and Marcus to the back of the stage. Zidane kicked Benero (I think?), and Marcus punched Zenero (still not sure…).

"Too many of them!" Benero exclaimed.

"Run away!" Zenero shouted as they both headed off the stage.

King Leo quickly crossed over to Garnet, "Pray, sweet daughter, come home to the castle with me."

"Nay, father! I shan't return!" Garnet replied as she shook her head.

"Cornelia…" King Leo said in a weary voice. "Trouble me no more. This wedding is for thine own welfare. Be mindful of that."

"Not if I can help it! Now is my moment of vengeance! For my parents, and for my love, Cornelia…" Marcus drawed his sword. "I shall cut thee down!"

Marcus moveed to stab King Leo, but as fate shall have it, Cornelia (Garnet) stepped in the way to stop Marcus.

"Ngh!" Garnet cried as the sword went through her left side. Well, not really… If it did I would go up there and re-enact the Uchiha Massacre on them all for real. (Naruto reference there)

Steiner gasped in shock and waved his arms high over his head. I think he was trying to do an awkward version of the wave.

…Dumbass.

"No… Cornelia!" Marcus cried in devastation.

"Mar…cus," Cornelia rasped. "Forgive me. I still love my father…"

"Cornelia!" King Leo cried sadly, leaning over to Garnet's side.

"Princess!" Steiner exclaimed, falling onto his knees in disbelief.

"Prithee, forgive my selfishness, Father, and spare my sweet Marcus…" Garnet said softly before going limp.

'NOOOO! PRINCEEEEESS!' I wailed in my head. I know it was all fake, but I couldn't help it.

"What have I done? Am I never to hear her loving voice again? Am I cursed never again to feel her soft touch? Oh, cruel fate! Thou hast robbed me of all I treasure!" Marcus cried out.

Marcus took his sword with the look of a man who had lost everything he had lived for. He stabbed himself in the gut. That was ballsy of him to do that since there were so many young kiddies watching this play.

…don't look at me like that. I'm swearing in my head.

"Ngah!" Marcus exclaimed as he fell to the floor, dead.

"Marcus!" Zidane shouted, alarmed.

I heard sniffling next to me. I turned my head and saw Vivi crying a bit. Puck looked on in amazement at the show though. I guess he was only in it for the killing and battles. I pray for him to never watch Hellsing Ultimate. Or Afro Samurai if he wasn't into vampires.

"Its okay, Vivi," I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder. "It's just pretend."

"B-But it's so sad!" Vivi said sniffling. "They both had to die because they loved each other! It's not fair!"

"Wow, what a show!" Puck said, jumping up.

"Yeah, so sad…" Vivi agreed, having stopped crying.

"I'm glad we climbed all the way over here. How 'bout you, huh?" Puck asked us, but when he looked behind us his eyes went wide. "Uh-oh! Look out!"

Vivi and I spun around and saw two Pluto Knights charging toward us. I cursed and grabbed Vivi's hand, dragging him a bit as we ran in the direction Puck went.

"Come back here!" one of the knights shouted. The other one screamed something about fury…

As the knights begun closing in on us Puck jumped on the banister and ran off in the direction we came. Vivi and I did the same, though the both of us almost fell off. Thank god the banisters were wide. The knights skidded to a halt as we passed by them. They ran after us (stumbling a bit to regain balance) and shouted at us to stop. I'm gonna go with noooo.

We jumped down from the banister, reaching the place where we had been standing. Vivi then tripped and fell on his face. I skidded to a stop and ran back to him to see if he was alright.

Puck came running over to us quickly…before running away upon seeing the Pluto Knights converging on us. "Fools! I'm outta here!"

I scrambled to my feet and helpped Vivi up. Upon hearing armoured clanging coming very close to us, our eyes widened, but our feet reacted for us. We ran away from them, but instead of going through the crowd we charged onto the stage. Crossing the bridge I ran to where everyone was hunched over Garnet mourning her "death". I jumped over Garnet, landing swiftly on the other side. Vivi jumped over Garnet, too, landing in front of me.

"Don't come any closer!" Vivi warned the incoming guards.

A flame suddenly lit in mid-air between Vivi's hands. It turned into a small fireball. Vivi threw it at the Pluto Knights, but unfortunately, it hit Garnet and caught her hood on fire. Whoops…

"Ow! That's hot!" Garnet exclaimed jumping up. She threw the hood off which landed into the water. Ah shit…

"Time to split kiddo!" I hissed to Vivi.

Vivi nodded quickly and we both made a run for it. Vivi triped though, but didn't bring me down with him. I stopped anyway and knelt down next to Vivi.

"You okay kiddo?" I asked in a concerned tone.

"Come on, Princess. Let's ditch Sir Rustalot and get outta here!" I heard Zidane say as he walked over to us.

"Hey, kid… You okay?" Zidane asked as Vivi got up. Seems like everyone is saying that a lot.

"Y-Yeah," Vivi stuttered nervously, being in the presence of a stranger. "I just tripped, that's all…"

"Princess, I cannot allow you to go!" Steiner stated and turned to his knights. "Seize them at once!"

"Oh yeah! Time to kick ass!" I say as I drew my super bad ass sword. I think everyone looked at me for a second to see me holding the blade from the gods. I looked back at them. "What?"

Steiner brought his sword out with hard set determination in his eyes. I grinned at him. "I can't help it. I just can't! I've got a bigger sword than you!" I say in a sing-song voice, ending with the anime classic 'pull one eye lid down and stick your tongue out'. He growled at me, his eyes automatically flickering between his standard broadsword and my black Monster Kill sword. (Reference to Unreal Tournament there folks)

"You want some of this Rusty?" I asked, making Zidane chuckle. I moved over to him. "I'll take Tin Man, you take care of his back up, and then you can help me," I said to him. He nodded, which I was grateful for, and we got ready to attack.


	4. Chapter 4: Are You An Angel?

**Chapter 4: Are You An Angel? **

Steiner charged toward me and we engaged in a fierce sword duel. I had to admit it, even though he could be dumb, stupid, and a total ass, he really was a good fighter. I slashed sideways only for him to block me. I flipped the sword and, using a reverse grip, blocked the broadsword with my black cleaver sword. I jerked my blade to the side, causing a bright flash of sparks that forced Steiner to close his eyes. I then slammed my sword into the floor and using it, kicked Steiner square in the chest. He fell back and almost slid off the stage. I pried my sword loose and slung it over my shoulder, the humongous blade reflecting the light. Man, I wish I could look at myself in third person right now. Steiner stood up over on stage right. Apparently a kick to the chest wasn't enough. With all that armour it shouldn't come as a surprise.

I turned to see Zidane finishing of the two knights as they fled the scene. One said "Um, uh… My wrath ends here!" and the other followed it up with "I'm gonna be late for my date!" Zidane turned to me and we gave each other the thumbs up. "H-hey!" Steiner exclaimed as he watched his knights run away. I then attacked Steiner while he was occupied and the tip of my blade quickly cut into Steiner's arm. I jumped back in case of Steiner countering. Steiner held his arm gritting his teeth with beads of sweat rolling down his face. Maybe that's why his armor's so rusty.

"Bah!" Steiner gasped. "Only a flesh wound…"

The ship started shaking suddenly. I blinked and looked around to see the boat rock back and forth a bit. The sound of propellers reached my ears. Looking up I saw a bunch of propellers start spinning very quickly. The boat was beginning to lift up and the crowd was going wild with boos. I guess they still thought this was all part of the show.

Over the sound of the propellers I heard something cranking. Like a machine that was moving up. 'Oh no, that must mean…' I thought as I turned to see three huge harpoons aimed straight for us. "Oh shit!" I yelled, not caring about the PG rating anymore. "Hit the deck!" I heard Marcus order.

I heard a swooshing sound, and looked to see a giant harpoon heading straight towards Garnet. Not waiting for Zidane to rescue her I attached my sword to my back and ran to her. I dove and knocked her away just as the harpoon slammed deep into the spot where we were a nanosecond ago. We rolled along the deck and stopped near the edge with her on top of me. And I froze. Her breasts were pressed up against my chest and one of her legs was wedged between my legs, rubbing against my crotch. And not only that, but her soft looking lips were only a couple of centimetres away from mine. She opened her eyes to see the compromising position we were in. She yelped softly and clambered off me, apologising.

"Don't worry about it." I replied, thanking in my head that my hands weren't anywhere near her at that time, before another set of three harpoons buried themselves into the Prima Vista. I heard small explosions underneath me and I wondered if one of the harpoons had hit the engine. Then the cannon above the royal balcony fired a steel ball and I knew what that is.

'DAMNIT! I wish there was something I could do. I wish I had wings!' I thought as the ball soared higher and higher into the air. Then I felt as if time had stopped, as if someone had cast the spell 'Stop' on the entire area.

"**You do have wings,"** the voice of the PS2 reverberated around me. **"Just imagine wings growing out of you."** Then time started to slowly move again. Realising that I didn't have much time I decided to do as the PS2 said.

'Ok, imagine wings growing out of you.' I started to do so and then I felt something moving underneath my skin on my back. I looked behind me to see tendrils of white energy sprouting out of my back, weaving together to from huge wings made out of the glowing energy. Then, all of a sudden it seemed as if someone just smashed a glass pane and the solidified energy flew apart in the form of shattered glass. In their place were giant, black angel wings.

With no time to stand there, gawking at my new appendages, I flexed my new wings and launched myself at the metal ball. The ball was overcome with intense pressure and blew apart, to reveal a glowing sphere of fire. A bomb. However it didn't have enough time to move as I sped toward it with my sword to the side. I gripped it with both hands and as I passed the ball of sentient fire, I swung my sword straight through the bomb. A line of white blue energy trailed out of the end of my sword as I sliced through. A bright glowing line formed on the bomb's skin and it split cleanly in half, before it detonated in the air.

Having already cleared the blast radius, I got to work on slicing off the chains. It took me no more than ten seconds to do so and as the Prima Vista, a huge amount of smoke pouring out of one of the holes that a harpoon made, flew away, I caught up and landed on the stage. As I landed the wings glowed with a bright light and slowly disappeared in an upward glass crumbling way. I smiled and brought my hand up in a 'Rock On' sign before I collapsed and darkness overtook me.

* * *

><p>"Do you think he's dead?"<p>

"No, see he's breathing,"

_Where am I?_

"Does anyone know who he is?"

"His name is Josh. He helped me see the play."

_That's right. Prima Vista. That must mean that we were able to escape._

"That is the biggest sword I have ever seen. I can't even lift it up."

"He must be super strong."

"He had to be. Did you see the way he fought with the knight?"

"And those wings. Do you think he's an angel?"

_Wings?_

"Didn't you see, they were black."

"Well what then?"

"I don't know."

I awoke to this conversation with my head shot to hell. I almost went back to sleep but then someone said "Hey, he's waking up," and that tore my plan up. I slowly opened my eyes to see a blurry image of someone with long dark hair.

"His eyes look unfocused. Does anyone have a Potion?"

A pause.

"I do. Here,"

Then an angelic voice spoke for the first time since I came around. "Here. Drink this," and the fuzzy person in front of me held up another fuzzy object full of blue. They pressed the object to my lips and tilted the object up. The liquid sloshed against my lips and I opened my mouth to drink the contents. As soon as I finished drinking my vision sharpened, my headache disappeared and my fatigue was banished for the moment. 'Man, Nurofen would kill to get their hands on a Potion from this place,' I thought to myself. I blinked and saw that the blurry person in front of me was actually…

"Princess…?"

She smiled as I gazed into those mocha coloured eyes. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"A lot better now, thanks."

I attempted to stand up but felt woozy. I reached out to steady myself and then looked around. Almost everyone was crowded around me. Except for Steiner who was resting on the other side of the deck. Zidane, Vivi, Princess Garnet, Marcus, Blank and Cinna were looking at me with respect for me. I patted the top of my head and felt my teashades still in place.

Then the whole ship violently shook. It seemed that a harpoon really did strike the engine. Running over to the edge I saw a vast forest underneath us. I knew what forest. Evil Forest. Fairly generic name but who cares. We were going to crash!

I turned to everyone. "Hold on to something!" I yelled as we came down. As the trees whipped the deck we all began flying off. Zidane flew off from the other side with a yell. Garnet flew off the ship them with Vivi flying by her.

"Vivi! Garnet!" I shouted uselessly into the air.

Steiner was the next to fly off (which seemed impossible with the weight of his armor). He fell not too far from where Garnet and Vivi did. I gripped the railing as tightly as I could not wanting to fall off. I felt myself being lifted in the air though. Like when someone spins you around very fast. My hand slipped from the railing. The pressure of the wind forced it at my side so I couldn't reach back to grab it. My other hand was slipping now.

Well, fuck.

My hand slipped from the railing sending me spiralling into the air. I let out a scream as I fell to the ground.

""!"

I hit my head on something rough and hard, and everything went black.

Again.

* * *

><p>Pain. That is what I felt as I wake up. Turns out, I was in a tree. That's nice. Careful not to break the branch I'm on, though it's one of the lower branches so it was quite thick, I looked around to make sure that no monsters were around. I then checked to see if I still had my sword. I do, thank goodness. This sword might as well be my Ultimate weapon for the whole time I was here. I then patted my forehead again and this time I whined loudly as my awesome teashades were not on there.<p>

"Shit!" I swore before I looked down at the ground. I saw a glint of orange. I jumped out of the tree and quickly snatched up my teashades possessively. I placed them over my eyes before I took another look around. I was in a small clearing surrounded by tall, dark pines. The sky was dark, and had a grey mist wafting about it.

That's right. Evil Forest. Joy. I thought that killing the bomb might have enabled the Prima Vista to at least clear the forest before it crashed. Speaking of the Prima Vista, I started to look for it. I saw a thick trail of smoke rising up into the sky close by. I started walking towards it, not putting away my sword in case I got jumped by a Fang stupid enough to cross me.

I came across another clearing on top of a small cliff and I spotted Zidane lying on the ground. I ran toward him and knelt beside him, laying my sword on the ground. "Zidane! Wake up man!" I said as he stirred slightly. He looked at me. "Oh, hey… what was your name?" he asked.

"Josh," I replied.

"Ok, where is everyone?" he questioned. I pointed to my left where the Prima Vista was. We walked over to the edge of the cliff to survey the damage. It was lying on its belly in the middle of a clearing, falling apart and secreting smoke from a few areas.

"C'mon, let's get down there." I suggested. I looked to the right and found a small path. We followed it and, leaping off a small boulder, landed in the clearing. There was a large pile of supplies just outside the doors, and a figure that was leaning against a box. It was Cinna. He heard our footsteps, and looked up.

"Zidane!" he said as he turned to face us.

What about me? I felt really woozy. Zidane noticed this.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked. I shook my head slightly. "I'm in dire need of some coffee right now. Either that or another potion."

Cinna piped up. "I can get you some. I remember putting a container somewhere round here…" he trailed off as he started to rummage in the boxes.

"Hey Cinna, is everyone here?" asked Zidane. Cinna replied without turning round from his search. "No-one was hurt, but the little guy, the guy in armour and the princess are missing. Blank is out searching now."

"It doesn't mean they're dead. Maybe they fell off the ship like I did," suggested Zidane.

Cinna snorted quietly. "Well that makes me feel better…" he said sarcastically. Zidane rolled his eyes and ignored his negativity.

"I'll go back in the forest and look for them," he said. "If they're out there, they can't be that far." Cinna looked like he was going to protest, but gave up on it shortly after. "Well, be careful. We can't send anyone with you cause we're trying to get the supplies out of the ship and put the fires out." Zidane nodded at this.

"I'll come back you up as soon as I get my coffee," I said. "I don't do looking and fighting well when I'm groggy."

"Thanks," he replied before turning around and heading along the path.

I sighed and unclipped my sword before sitting down. I rested the blade over my lap and looked closely at it. It seemed that the surface wasn't smooth and polished as I thought. Well it was polished but there seemed to be characters etched into the sword. I ran my hand over the symbols. They looked like Japanese Kanji characters. There were nine in all, running along the black blade. 'I need to name this guy,' I thought as I heard Cinna exclaim as he found the coffee and dashed off to make some for me and the others. I sat there, but I couldn't think of a good name. Sure I could copy the name off someone else's like 'Buster Sword' or 'Kubikiri Houchou', but I wanted my name to be unique. For a few minutes I sat there, wondering.

"Kuroshikon," I whispered softly.

"That's some sword you have there," said Cinna as he handed me a cup of coffee with a few sugar cubes.

"Thanks. Yeah it is," I answer as I placed the sugar cubes into my coffee, swirled it around with a clean-ish twig from next to me and sipped the coffee. My eyes lit up as the liquid passed through my throat and into my stomach, the caffeine pushing back the wariness I felt. I usually had my coffee with milk, but this stuff felt like it would be completely ruined if I had any in there.

"Do you have a name for it, seeing as it's a custom made blade?" asked Cinna, also sipping on his drink.

"Its name is Kuroshikon," I said, feeling proud of the name I chose for it. It was Japanese. Kuro meant black and shikon meant fang. Kuroshikon = Black Fang.

As I was drinking the last mouthfuls of my coffee, I heard the sound of someone screaming. I knew this was Garnet so I sat down the mug and clasped the newly named Kuroshikon to my back, before bolting in the direction of the scream.

After a few minutes of charging through the bush I came across this scene. Vivi was shaking on the ground with fear. Steiner and Zidane were both panting. And in the middle of the clearing was the Cage Plant. The whole thing was green with two thick vines waving around it. On the top of it's flat head was a cage made out of living leaves creating a cage. And inside the cage was Garnet. Her legs seemed to be sealed within a strange pit of gunk. More then likely it was a way to immobilize any prey captured within its hold. But she looked dreadfully frightened, and could only weakly fight against the plant's hold. She was probably tired out due to the whole airship incident.

"Garnet…" I growled out and drew Kuroshikon out to the side. "Stay still Garnet, I'll get you out!" I shouted to the young princess. Whether she heard me or not, I didn't know. I charged toward the plant thing and tried to slice one of the vines. It slithered out of the way and up into the air, out of reach. I then jumped up with such agility I never knew I had and swung at the vine. I severed the annoyance and watched it collapse before I landed next to the others.

"Watch out guys, it will most likely counterattack," I said before going into a guard stance. The cage plant swung its last vine at us. Luckily, it was in the air, so I fell down on the ground to avoid its attack. But Steiner and Zidane were hit by the vine, and I saw them fall momentarily, stunned for the moment.

I then feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise as I felt anger rising deep inside me. Anger at my friends being hurt. Anger at a frigging plant for capturing a helpless girl. Then something clicked in my head and I felt energy swelling inside me. It felt relaxing and gentle. I open my eyes to see white energy flaring around me. I felt the wings as they grew out of me again. I look down at my sword and saw the symbol closest to the hilt glow. Then Kuroshikon morphed shape, changing into a long staff with an angel like being on the top. It was Yuna's Nirvana from Final Fantasy X. The kanji symbols were now engraved along the shaft, with the one closest to the bottom glowing in an azure blue. My hair changed to white. My clothes changed to a white robe, like what a high priest would wear. It was a long robe that went all the way down to my feet. A hood was hanging behind me. There were red triangle markings along the edges of the robe. It was a white mage's robe! From the early Final Fantasy games. It was also what Garnet wore as she was escaping from the castle. I looked behind me to see that instead of black wings, there were white. The power inside me then exploded out of me before settling down with only a few strands of white energy wrapping around me.

Without looking at my new friends I focused my attention solely on the plant. It looked unsure as to what it should do. I gestured with Nirvana while speaking a few words that wove the spell into existence.

"**Return to Gaia."**

Green life energy began to seep out of the plant, looking like I had just cast a powerful Drain spell on it. However instead of the energy coming to me as a usual Drain Spell does, the life energy dispersed into the ground around it. Flowers and green grass sprouted from the areas that the energy seeped into. Soon there was nothing remaining of the plant and the Princess was lying in a bed of beautiful flowers and soft grass, looking at me in awe. She looked very beautiful lying there.

With my job done, the energy receded back into my body. The wings disappeared, my hair turned back to normal, my clothes turned back to what they were before and Kuroshikon went back to being a black giant sword. With the disappearance of the vitalising energy my strength waned and I staggered back before dropping to the ground. Garnet rushed over to me and the last thing I heard before I slipped into blissful unconsciousness was her beautiful voice.

"Are you an angel?"


	5. Chapter 5: Rescuing the Princess

**Chapter 5: Rescuing the Princess**

I blinked as I took in my surroundings. It seemed that I had been carried back to the Prima Vista. Turning on my side I saw Vivi resting peacefully on a small bed.

I sat up but before I stand and walk out of the room, Zidane walked in with Steiner creaking behind him. I smileed and stood to greet them.

"Hey guys, what's up? Where's Garnet?" I asked. Vivi woke up from the sound of my voice and sat up as well.

Zidane looked like he was about to say something but Steiner cut him off. He stormed up to me, red in the face. "How dare you address the Princess so!" he yelled.

I narrowed my eyes slightly at his volume. "Hey! Tone it down mate," I said in a calming manner. I then ignored his fuming and looked to Zidane.

"The Princess was taken just after you passed out," was the bad news I was hoping not to hear.

"Shit! These powers are new to me so while I can perform them well, they take a lot out of me," I explained.

"Yes well, I'm going to go get her back. I wanted to ask you to come along. It would be a great help."

I grinned. "Of course I'll come. There's no way I'll let a beautiful girl like her stay in trouble." Zidane nodded then turned to Vivi. "I want to ask you as well. Your black magic will come in handy against the monsters we'll likely face in the future."

"B-but," Vivi stuttered, "I can't help… When she got caught, I was so scared I couldn't do anything…"

"But you can do awesome Black Magic," I reminded him. "You can help us heaps," Vivi averted his eyes, and fiddled with his hands. He was quiet for a minute, before he said, "…Yeah. I guess that if I can help, then I will. I wanna make sure that the Princess is safe."

"Wonderful!" Steiner chimed. "We shall be off when all is ready!" Vivi nodded, and scooted off the bed. He seemed to have a little more confidence.

"Before we go, I think Vivi needs a staff," I suggested. Vivi looked at me questioningly. "Why?" he asked.

"It helps you focus your magic better, plus in case the enemy gets too close there's usually a blade on the basic rods to fend of the foe," I explained helpfully.

"I think I remember seeing something like that in one of the storage boxes around here…" said Zidane. We followed the thief out of the room and into the room next door. This room looked mostly intact, so my theory was that the room had turned into an unofficial storage room until everything got sorted.

Zidane rummaged through the boxes until he produced a small wooden staff that was just barely shorter that Vivi. It was made of a hard wood, and the end was gnarled into a circular pattern. It had a polished surface, and a two inch wide, three inch long curved blade on front of the gnarled top.

"Nice," I complimented as Zidane handed the staff to Vivi. "You can keep it," Zidane said.

"Thanks," he said, clearly grateful for it.

"No problem."

We followed him out of the room and walked to the room that connected the ship to the outside. Before we exited, the door on the opposite end opened and out ran Blank.

"Zidane, hold on," Blank said, rushing over. Steiner grumbled under his breath, but we ignored him. "What's up Blank?"

He stopped in front of Zidane, looking at him seriously. "You didn't say you were leaving the band."

Zidane folded his arms. "Well, yeah," he said, sounding a bit sheepish. "But I've left before, so it shouldn't surprise you."

Blank chuckled. "It doesn't. I just want to know when you're leaving."

"…Sorry."

"It's not a big deal. I just found out cause the Boss was walking around mumbling about what a thick-headed moron you were, so I figured that meant you were leaving."

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you later." Blank nodded, as if it was nothing that should be doubted, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vile. He handed it to me and said, "If you find the Princess, I bet she'll need this." I smiled and said, "Thanks," before I looked at Zidane. "Shall we go?"

* * *

><p>We ended up in the clearing where I unleashed my Limit Break… no wait, here it was called Trance. Ah stuff it, Limit Break it was. While we trekked to this area Zidane filled me in on what happened after I blacked out. Apparently there was another of those bastards on stand-by and swooped in to get the Princess. Zidane managed to wound it badly with his Limit, I mean Trance, I mean… damnit! You know what I mean. So he reasoned that the plant thing would be leaking blood and said spilt blood would lead us to the lair.<p>

Zidane examined the area where all the grass was. It seemed that the new growth had not died yet. There was black ooze over some of the grass. Steiner came up behind him and looked at the ground. "What is that?"

"Monster blood," Zidane replied, looking to the trail ahead. "We can use it to track the monster, then maybe we'll find the Princess."

"How long do you think it will take to find them?" Vivi asked, eyeing the blood.

"It depends on how often we find a trail of blood," I supplied.

We started to follow the blood trail and eventually we arrived at a fork in the road. We went a few yards and found nothing, but I spotted another blood patch just ahead. We stopped and Zidane knelt down to examine it. After confirming it was the same we continued down the trail.

We travelled for a few minutes, jogging when we could and tried to stay on the trail. We didn't run into any other monsters, and we found two more blood patches, but I still wasn't sure how far we had to go. Steiner, Vivi and Zidane stayed quiet most of the time, the three seeming to be a bit spooked by the negative presence of the woods. I didn't blame them. _I _was spooked.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, we turned another corner and, about one hundred feet ahead we saw a large cave opening. It was about twice my height, and the inside was too dark to see. I looked down, and saw a steady trail of black blood leading straight into it.

"Jackpot," I said in an undertone, keeping my eyes on the cave opening.

"The Princess is probably in there, but I doubt the monster is. My Boss is a bit familiar with these kinds of creatures, and he says the monster that took her most likely brought her to its master," said Zidane.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steiner said behind him, his tone was somewhat impatient and suspicious. I couldn't help but snort at his tone.

"What do you think it means genius? It means that there's going to be a king sized, ugly as hell, plant thing in there, and we're going to have to kick it's ass to take Garnet back," I said.

Steiner said nothing, but I heard him shuffle a bit, letting me know that he was a bit nervous at the news. At least he didn't bitch about the jab I made about his intelligence. I heard Steiner's sword clear its sheath, and a rustle as Vivi readied his staff. I placed my hand on the handle of Kuroshikon but I didn't draw it.

We entered the cave without so much as a thought when we reached it. It was so dark that we couldn't see anything in front of us. There was a dead silence, and the only sound was that of our footsteps. I just hoped that nothing jumped out at us. I really hate jump scares.

"So what's the plan?" asked Vivi.

I shrugged, even though it was too dark for anyone to see. "Run in, whoop ass, save the girl and get out. How hard can it be?" I said.

After a minute, a weak light peaked at us ahead. We quickened our pace, and made it to the mouth.

Now when I said ugly as hell, I was basing this statement off my observation from the game. I now took it back. At a glance, it looked like a giant flower. But at a close inspection, it was a very large, _moving_ flower, two giant arm-like vines lying on each side, and some kind of nasty looking liquid that seeped out of its petals. The one thing I was thankful for is that it was planted in the middle of the ground (like a flower should be). At least it would have a limited reaching area.

As we entered, it sensed us and faced us (well, at least I thought it faced us. I was sure that the petals were its front and the thick root was its back), a low screech echoing from the middle of the plant (damn, the thing has a mouth). The vines lifted into the air, fanning slowly.

And as it did, the Princess came into view behind it. She was lying there, appearing to be unconscious, and within the plant's reach.

"PRINCESS!" Steiner shouted. The plant screeched loudly, and whipped its vines at us, although we were well out of its reach.

"Steiner, shut up!" I hissed, keeping my eyes on the raged monster. "You're just gonna piss it off!" He clamped his mouth shut, but I know he wouldn't stand there for much longer.

Ok, so how were we really going to go about this? I was joking about the plan before. After a few moments I figured it out.

"Ok, here's the real plan. Zidane and Steiner; you'll distract it with swift and strong attacks while Vivi provides back-up with magic. I'll swiftly get the Princess, get her out of reach and apply the antidote. As I do this Vivi will guard her, making sure that any other monsters won't try something while still providing ranged attacks. As soon as I'm finished, we'll break off the attack and head back. Any questions?"

And of course, Steiner had to stall with his stupid suspicions. "Yes! Why should I trust you to get her away safely!"

"Because I can be extra fast in the air," I said and I grew my wings. There appearance wasn't as flashy as before but still looked very impressive. Everyone nodded at this.

"Why shouldn't we kill the monster?" asked Zidane.

"We don't know what will happen if we kill the guardian of the forest. For all we know we might petrify the whole damn place," I said. Everyone looked nervous at the idea of the whole forest petrifying and not being able to get out in time.

"Alright then, let's do it!" We then sprang into action.

Steiner ran up to the flailing monster with a war cry, and Vivi focused a fire spell as I ran to the left. Steiner's sword came in contact with one of its tentacles, and it screeched angrily. It was followed up by a fire spell hitting it directly in the face. Zidane used his superior speed and agility to lay on the pain with his daggers. As it shrieked in protest, I took off, literally, toward Garnet.

But _man_, that sucker could recover _fast._

It was already over the fire spell, and swinging its tentacles blindly. I barrel rolled to the side as one came at me, and I continued forward. It was temporarily distracted again as Vivi sent another flame at it, while Zidane and Steiner worked together to slice off one of the vines. It gave me enough time to get to Garnet.

I landed next to her and knelt down next to her head. She looked like she was sleeping, but I couldn't tell if she was alive. I reached out and turned her head upwards. Her eyes scrunched a bit, and her mouth made a small wincing motion, followed by a very weak groan. Good. She was still alive. However it seemed that luck wasn't on my side.

Before I could pick her up and fly out of range, I heard a massive, ear-piercing scream echo from the monster. I spun my body around, to find that the thing's ugly face was looking directly at me, obviously angered that I was near its prey. It made a gargling sound and, before I could react, it spat some of the oozing green liquid at me.

The only thing I had time to do was move my body in front of Garnet's and put my right arm over my face protectively. As soon as I did, I felt the fluid hit my arm. I felt an intense burn as soon as it made contact.

"Fuuuuck!" I screamed as I lowered my arm and shook it in an attempt to rid myself of the liquid. The intensity of the heat burned through my skin, and it sent a shooting pain all through my arm. I desperately wiped it off with my other hand, then clutched it tightly, closing my eyes and stifled another scream. It hurt so fucking much I could hardly think.

But after a few seconds, I forced my eyes open. I winced as the pain assaulted my arm, and I looked at the battle in front of me. The monster was again facing the others, and they were still locked in a duel of steel, vines and magic. I couldn't tell if they had been injured, and I couldn't tell if any of their attempts had weakened the monster. But I tried to focus my mind getting Garnet out of there. My arm was still burning, and I could feel my own blood dripping off of it along with the green fluid, but I tried to block it out and do what I was here to do. At least none of the green acid gunk hit my wings.

I picked up Garnet, trying to ignore the pain in my arm and carried her bridal style. I then flexed my wings and flew off toward Vivi.

The trip was successful and I landed there without any more mishaps. Vivi glanced at me as I laid the princess on the ground gently. I quickly pulled out the vial of antidote from one of my pockets and tilted her head up in preparation to administer the potion. I poured the liquid into her mouth and she gave a choking cough; then took in a deeper breath, her eyes remaining closed.

"Is she alright?" asked Vivi.

I looked in his direction and nod. I then stood up. "I'll be back soon," I said before I beat my wings and flew off in the direction of the beast. I landed next to Zidane.

"The Princess is safe. Tell Steiner to break off the attack," I said to him. He nodded and sprinted off toward the knight while I flew back to Vivi and Garnet.

Soon we were all gathered outside a second opening that was adjacent to the tunnel that we took to get here. We all quickly disappeared into the tunnel, trying to ignore the echoing screeching of the plant thing.

As we emerged from the tunnel we heard a very loud screech from behind us. I sighed.

"Great, maybe I should have sliced its voice box out before we left. We better hurry, for I'm sure that scream wasn't in anguish, but an order to it's minions to recapture Garnet." I panted. Everyone nodded and we started to run down a trail that we have no idea where it led.

Eventually we saw a spot of light in the distance and I was relieved that we had found an exit. Apparently everyone was as well as we all picked up the pace. But then I heard a screech from right behind me and I glanced back to see a few of those grunt plant things. They were coming right for us. I yelled to the others to keep running and then I stopped, turned around and drew my sword with my left hand.

One of the monsters whipped its vines in my direction and I flapped my black wings to dodge out of the way. I swung Kuroshikon around and lopped off both vines at once. The first one shrank back, only to be replaced with the second and third. I dived forward and inflicted a massive and deep gash on the third before I turned on the second. I thrusted forward into the second's face, maybe, and withdrew Kuroshikon before flicking it to the side to remove most of the black blood on the blade.

Leaving the three heavily wounded monsters I took to the air and made a dash to the exit. I emerged from the dark and was almost blinded by the light. I blinked a few times before my eyes focused on the group below me. I descended slowly and as I landed I dismissed my wings.

"Well, we made it," I grimaced in pain from my right arm. But inside I was relieved. We were safe. For the time being.

* * *

><p>After half an hour of pitching up a tent for Garnet and finding firewood to build up a fire, I finally had some time to tend to my wound. There was still nasty green crap on it so I found a spring that ran out of the forest and washed of the nastiness. I then applied a potion to it and was now applying a bandage to my right arm. Thank god I'm ambidextrous. Otherwise I would be useless in a battle until I was all healed up.<p>

And the whole time, I had to listen to Steiner yell at me and Zidane.

"If you two hadn't kidnapped her, none of this would have happened!" he screamed. He stood close to the Princess, who was lying on a blanket next to the fire. The poison had been in her body longer than it had the others, so it had taken more of a toll on her. She was sleeping, and she looked like she'd pull through with no lasting damage.

"Everything you did was reckless, stupid, pigheaded…" he kept shouting at us. Apparently, he thought it was our fault that we were here, that the Princess had been attacked, and that he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't kill us right now.

I winced inwardly after I finished the bandaging. That acid really did a number on my arm. It still had a throbbing burn, and there was a raw spot about five inches long and three inches wide. I didn't know how long it would take to heal, but I hoped it wouldn't be too long. I may be ambidextrous but I was still better with my right arm in using Kuroshikon.

The tent had come from a curious pouch that Zidane had attached to his side. Upon asking him about how a big wrapped up tent was able to fit inside, he replied that it was a special pouch that had magic woven into it, allowing the pouch to store an almost unlimited amount of objects inside it, with the size of said object within reason. You couldn't put a piano in there, but a tent was quite doable.

"… no concern for the welfare of the Princess, and-"

"Hey!" I finally yelled. "Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" I didn't care that this adventure was supposed to be PG rated, I was pissed. I hadn't even been with Zidane in capturing the Princess.

His eyes flashed angrily. He waved a fist through the air, saying, "How dare you! What makes you think-"

"What makes _you _think you can blame all of this on us!" said Zidane. It seemed he had also had had enough.

"You're saying all of this is _our_ fault, but who was it that was willing to go after her, huh! _You_ have a duty to her, but I don't! My Boss told me we weren't going to help her, so I left! I made the decision _on my own_ to help her! So tell me, how that makes all of this _my_ fault!" He was able to get me out of this argument by taking it all on himself. Vivi, who had been sitting by the fire the whole time, shifted a bit uncomfortably.

Steiner looked like he was about to yell right back but before he does I interrupt him. "Stop being so immature Steiner! You blaming everyone else for the problems we face are just a sign that you're just a big ass baby." Well that ended his retorts. I sighed in relief at the silence before we all hear a soft groan come from Garnet. She shifts a bit, and then opens her eyes, blinking groggily at the fire in front of her.

"Princess!" Steiner said desperately, immediately kneeling down next to her. Vivi got to his feet and watched, seemingly very relieved to see that she was ok. I smiled to myself. I was glad she was ok too. It seemed that Zidane was glad as well.

Garnet seemed to be aware of Steiner, and she gently pushed herself into a sitting position with her legs lying next to her. She put a hand on her head and closed her eyes.

"Princess, are you alright!" Steiner asked, using a quieter tone this time. She removed her hand from her head and looked at him. She looked like she's going to say something, but she turned her head to look at her surroundings. Her gaze rested on Vivi and Zidane for a moment, then she looked over at me. Her eyes looked so tired, so confused.

"Yo," I said, approaching her. I ignored the glare Steiner gave me, and I stood a few feet away from her (to make sure there was a comfortable distance, and to make sure I stayed out of Steiner's reach).

"You feeling ok now?" I asked. She took her gaze off of me and looked at the fire.

"I'm alright," she said softly, sounding too tired to speak any louder. She was silent for a minute, then asked, "What happened?"

"Thanks to this _thief_ and his band," Steiner said angrily, drilling daggers into Zidane's eyes with his own furious ones, "We were stranded in the middle of the forest, and were attacked by a giant monster! If I hadn't been here, you would have fallen prey to it!"

I resisted the urge to walk over to the nearest tree and bang my head against it a few times while Zidane rolled his eyes in spite of himself. "How many times do I have to tell you?" Zidane asked with frustration. "This isn't my fault."

But Steiner kept his stubborn streak up. "_You _kidnapped her, so everything that's happened _is_ your fault!"

"Steiner," Garnet said quietly. He closed his mouth right away.

"Well after Josh fainted-"

"I didn't faint! I passed out," I glared at him through my teashades.

"Whatever you say," Zidane smirked at me. "After Josh _passed out-_"

"Ass," I muttered.

"you were taken by another. We returned to the Prima Vista to get healed up and then we came after you. We then battled the big plant thing to distract it while Josh swooped in and got you away from there. We then made our way out of the forest and here you are," explained Zidane.

"I see," said Garnet and she again looked at me for a second before speaking again.

"It's not their fault. It's mine," she finally said.

"But-"

"Steiner," she repeated, forestalling any of his comments. "I _asked_ Zidane to kidnap me. If any of this is anyone's fault, it's mine."

Steiner stayed silent. He looked surprised, but not as surprised as I thought he'd be. It's as if it was something that he expected. I then remembered that Steiner had been keeping a close eye on the princess before the 'kidnapping' happened. I remembered Steiner talking about it later on in the game.

"Well…" Zidane started, making everyone look at him. "I did agree to kidnap you Princess, but I was there to kidnap you anyway."

Steiner's eyes went wide and he pointed an accusing finger at him. "See! He admits it!"

"Nice job jackass," I sighed at Zidane, blaming his poor choice of words for Steiner's renewed look of fire and brimstone.

"Steiner, please…" Garnet sais, looking way too tired to deal with any of this right now. Steiner once again put his foot in his mouth, and let her finish. "Although I don't know why the crew was going to kidnap me, I planned to have them take me anyway."

Steiner looked at Zidane. "Then let's hear _why_ you were there to abduct her!"

"I don't know," Zidane said honestly. "The Boss said that it was an important favour for an important friend, and that we didn't need to know any more than that."

Steiner didn't look very satisfied with that. "HA! You expect me to believe that!"

Zidane shrugged his shoulders. "Believe what you want. It's the truth."

"Even if it is, why would you follow such an illegal crime!"

"Trust me," Zidane said, using a serious, and somewhat pained voice, "If you knew this guy, you'd know why." I silently agreed. Baku in the game was a bit of a 'rough around the edges' kind of guy. And that was putting it in the nicest possible way.

Steiner glared at Zidane once again, then said, "Well, no matter, we will soon be rid of you. I am taking the Princess back to Alexandria as soon as possible."

"Oh really?" I said, finding that somewhat humorous. "And how do you plan to get there?"

"Through South Gate!" he says defensively. "And you'd better not follow us!"

"No your not," I said, shaking my head. "North and South Gate are closed off. And even if they weren't, do you know how to get there?"

Steiner was silent for a moment, still glaring at me. I knew he didn't. I don't think he even knew which direction South was. I was sure he'd read some maps, but I bet he's spent most of his time protecting the Alexandrian Royal family, and never got to travel or study maps.

But instead of admitting that he didn't, he said, "Well, what difference does it make! It's not as if _you _do!"

"Duh, of course I do," I said, ignoring the shocked glare he gave me. "I've done a lot of travelling, and I've studied a lot of maps, so I know this area pretty well. Plus, I have a map of the continent." I half lied. I had travelled the area before, but I couldn't really say that I remembered the way from playing a game called Final Fantasy IX. And I actually did have a map of the area. I found it while looking through my pockets. It turned out that along with the map I had five potions (now four), three antidotes and roughly 7000 gil. I wish I knew about the potions beforehand.

"Well," he said, starting to turn red from the anger. I think he was starting to realize that I had to go with them, and he was not happy about it. "Then… you will give me the map and we'll be off!"

"No way, get your own," I grinned, finding plenty of petty enjoyment out of the frustration it's causing him. I'm a simple guy. "Even if I did give it to you, I bet you wouldn't know where to go."

And finally, it looked as if I had won. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it right away. I could see how frustrated he was with his conclusion, but I guessed he had decided to just do it. As he looked away I flashed Vivi and Zidane a wide grin and a V for victory. Zidane grinned back while Vivi gave me a… well I'm not sure if he was smiling or not. It was hard to tell with his shadowy face. But his eyes did that anime like eye smile so I guess he liked it.

"Fine, then it's settled," I said, not giving him a chance to say it (I don't think he would have anyway). "We'll leave tomorrow."

"And where to you plan to take us!" he demanded. Geez! Couldn't this guy take a break. Even though he looked like he was gonna accept that I was going with them, he was not gonna make it easy, was he?

I turned to Garnet. "Well since you wanted Zidane and his band to capture you, you obviously had a destination in mind," I said, waiting for her to speak up.

"Well, that is an obvious answer," Steiner said. "We are going back to Alexandria!"

"I asked Garnet, not you tin head!" I shot at him.

"Steiner," Garnet said. "I do not intend to return to Alexandria."

Before Steiner could comment, Garnet swayed a bit and looked like she was going to pass out. He turned his attention to her and said, "Princess, you need to rest." She didn't say anything, but she seemed too tired to protest. He helped her onto her feet and guided her to the tent. Just before they entered, Garnet's eyes and mine made contact. She almost looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn't. They both disappeared inside for a moment, then Steiner emerged. He looked directly at me and Zidane and said, "Don't go anywhere near her."

"Whatever, dickhead," I mumbled softly to myself.

"U-um," Vivi said, speaking for the first time since I got Steiner to stop yelling at me, "Where do I sleep?"

"In the tent," Steiner said, opening the flap for him. He glared at Zidane and I and directed his words at Vivi. "I trust you, not _them_."

"Like I give a rat's ass," I retorted back. I then looked at Zidane. He had been silent for a while and looked like he was doing some intensive thinking. "Hey Z, what's up?' I asked. He blinked and looked at me.

"I've just been thinking about going back to the gang. I may not like it very much, but they're the only family I have." I was a little shocked, but nodded my head, since I knew how important family was. "Well I think we'll be just fine by ourselves. If you want to go, then go. There are no obligations keeping you here. I'll look after the princess and Vivi."

He looked at me and smiled. "Thanks," he said before he stood up and started to make his way to the entrance.

"Wait a minute," I said to stop him. I walked up to him and gave him two of my potions. "For the road," I explained. He noded before reaching into his awesome pouch and pulled out another pouch, but this one was black, and not a leathery brown like his was.

"Here. It's the same type of pouch as mine. I was going to sell it, as they pull in some major cash, but you look like you need it more than I need the cash. It's yours," he said.

"Wow! You sure?" I asked. Zidane nodded. "Thanks man," I smiled. We shook hands before he walks away. As he disappeared I looked to the darkening sky, my teashades glinting in the low light.

"Well this will be interesting."


	6. Chapter 6: Trekking in the Snow

**Chapter 6: Trekking in the Snow**

I walked back to the camp and sat down near the fire. Steiner was still looking at me as if he was daring me to give him an excuse to kill me. He then blinked and looked around.

"Where is the thief?" he asked.

"He decided to go back to Tantalus," I answered before I lay on my side with my back to the fire. I didn't want to keep up a staring contest with the knight while trying to get to sleep.

"Why don't you go back too?" asked the knight which sounded more like an order than a question.

"Because I wasn't with them to begin with," I said back to Steiner. He stayed silent after this. That suited me just fine.

This was the first time I had enough time to think about what had happened lately. I somehow ended up in the world of Final Fantasy IX. How? I wondered if that voice would make an appearance soon so I could ask it some questions.

After 15 minutes of waiting for the voice to pop back I gave up and then concentrated on getting to sleep.

* * *

><p>I was the first one to wake up the next morning. The fire was out, and it was a bit chilly. I got up and stretched. Having no way to light the fire since I had no matches, I decided to look around the camp a bit. Because of the odd greyness of the sky, I couldn't tell what time it was, but I knew it was pretty early morning. I decided to let everyone sleep, guessing that they were tired from the previous day, and they'd need to be ready for today. Even Steiner was asleep in the same place he was last night. I laughed silently. How could he sleep standing up? I took the moment to give him the finger.<p>

I walked a little ways away from the camp and sat of a patch of slightly moist grass and pulled out the map. I unrolled it, already knowing that it was a map of the Mist Continent.

I looked at the map and checked our location. Evil Forest was in the middle of a valley, surrounded by tall cliffs. On the east cliff was Alexandria, and off to the west was South Gate. Since that was closed, the only way was through the Ice Cavern that led to Dali.

Thinking about the Ice Cavern got me thinking about the Black Waltzes and how I would fight them. I knew that the first one was good with ice manipulation and that he was the weakest of the three. Plus there would be that nasty ice monster. Maybe I would get lucky and awaken my limit again.

At that I heard a rustling sound and I looked to the side. It was Garnet who was walking over to me. I smiled at her before rolling up the map and tucking it into the magic pouch that Zidane had given me before he left.

"Good morning Princess," I greeted. She stopped a few short feet away.

"Good morning," she replied.

"Well you look better than yesterday. You up to a bit of travelling?" I asked. She nodded. "That's good. I was just figuring out where to go to get out of this valley," I said.

She shifted a bit, then said, "Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah, just fine," I lied. I ddin't sleep on bare ground very often, so I woke up with very stiff legs and neck. But she didn't need to know that.

She hesitated. "I'm sorry that Steiner forbade you to sleep in the tent. I shouldn't have let him tell you what to do."

"Don't worry about it," I say honestly. "It was probably more comfortable for everyone." This was probably true. I would have felt very uncomfortable sleeping next to a very beautiful girl, not to mention princess. And the fact that I move around a bit while I sleep, so I might've woken up in a very compromising position with her.

"Well I should probably introduce myself properly. My name's Josh Kitsuné," I said and offered. She looked a bit hesitant but took the hand and I gently shook it. "Nice to meet you. You may call me Garnet."

"Are you sure?" I joked. "I think Steiner would blow a gasket if I didn't call you Princess."

She giggled a bit. It was a nice sound to be sure. "I believe it is up to me, not Steiner," she said with a small smile.

I smiled in return. "That Steiner is really stiff. God knows he would be a much more fun guy to be around if he loosened up a bit."

She laughed softly again. Man I would never get tired of that sound.

As our hands were still wrapped in greeting, her eyes wandered to my outstretched arm, and her face turned to a frown. I looked down. She was eyeing my bloodied bandage.

"Oh this? Just a little souvenir from wrestling with the ugliest plant thing to crawl out from under a rock," I said, trying to make it sound as if I did things like that all the time. As if!

But she surprised me by hesitantly moving closer to me and looking at my arm. She looked at me and saasked, "Do you mind if I have a look?"

"I guess…" I trailed off as I unwrapped the bandage, and revealed the injury. It didn't look much better than it did yesterday. It was still raw, although it wasn't bleeding anymore.

She reached out and gently took my hand, lifting my arm so she could see it. Her eyes showed a sympathetic wince. She then released my hand and removed one of her gloves, then placed her bare palm over my arm, and held my arm still with the other. Her face took on a concentrating look, and her hand glowed.

Sweet! I had forgotten about her ability to use White Magic.

She held her position, and my injury started to heal. The skin started to repair, and the burn faded.

After a few seconds, she released the magic, and released my arm. It looked like it would after a week of healing. The burn was gone, and it was no longer raw. It was still slightly open, but most of it was repaired.

I flexed my hand experimentally, and then looked up at her. She had her hand on her head, and she was panting slightly. It looked like it took a bit out of her.

"Thanks for that. At least I'll be able to fight better since I'm more of a righty," I thanked her. She smiled at me.

"You didn't have to do that you know," I said, but not sounding as if I didn't appreciate it. "It would have healed on its own."

"I know," she replied, seeming to have caught her breath, "But I wanted to. Just… consider it my thanks for what you've done for me."

"Well cheers Garnet."

She cocked her head to the side slightly. "Cheers?" she asked.

I blinked before I cursed mentally. I had replied as if I was back on Earth. I didn't think that even the common people said that.

"Uh… It's a very non-formal way of saying thanks," I explained, hoping she didn't ask anything more. Thankfully she didn't, however she did voice another question.

"So where are we going?"

"Well since South Gate is probably closed, the only way is to go through the Ice Caverns to get to a small village called Dali. From there we can hopefully get a ride on an airship." I explained. "From there we can go to whichever town or city that's above the mist. Uhh, if you don't mind me asking, where exactly are we going?"

She looked a little cornered as I asked this but answered me. "Lindblum."

"Ok. That's an easy destination to get to when we get to Dali. I won't ask you why you ran away since it's none of my business, but if you ever want to talk about any of your troubles, I'm always able to lend you an ear. I'm a good listener," I said kindly.

She nodded and smiled. "Thank you very much," she replied. I then heard a rustling sound as Vivi stumbled slightly out of the tent. I stood up off the grass and walked over with Garnet walking behind me.

"Morning kiddo," I said. He looked in my direction, his eyes a bit sleepy and unfocused. "Good morning," he mumbled.

I turned to Garnet. "When all of us are ready, we'll head to Lindblum."

"Thank you," she replied with a small smile.

"Always happy to be of service to someone as beautiful as you," I said charmingly with a sweeping bow. As I rose out of my bow I saw her blush cutely. I simply laughed softly with a large grin. She blinked before she joined in.

After 15 minutes of waiting for Vivi to wake up fully, I finally couldn't take it. Putting my finger to my lips to show the other two that silence was needed, I crept up to Steiner and positioned my mouth right next to his ear. I took a deep breath.

"ON YOUR FEET SOLDIER!" I yelled as hard as I could. He opened his eyes and shot to his feet in a salute. "Yes sir!" he yelled almost as hard as me. He then looked wildly around as he remembered where he was. But I was already on the other side of the camp, looking innocent. I could see Vivi and Garnet trying hard not to burst into laughter, but Vivi's eyes were squinting slightly in mirth and Garnet had her own small smile.

As we were packing up I mentioned the plan to Vivi, and unwittingly, Steiner. Steiner demanded to know why I thought that he would let me do that. But Garnet told him to be quiet, and told him it was because it was where she needed to go. She even said that although she appreciated his loyalty, he didn't have to come with us if he didn't want to accept it. But he insisted that he would accompany us because 'It was his duty to protect her at all costs, and that he didn't trust the treacherous demon.' I ignored the comment though I thought being called 'Demon' sounded very bad ass.

It took us half the day to cross the large fields to the entrance of the Ice Caverns. We stopped once to eat, courtesy of Garnet packing some food for herself. I found it very hard to believe that she was able to hide stuff in the pockets of her skin tight orange jumpsuit and still make it look like there weren't any pockets to begin with. Then we continued until we reached the cavern. We were lucky enough not to run into any monsters. For that I was thankful, as I didn't feel like wasting my energy fighting when I would need it for the caverns. However I was slightly disappointed that none of those little gnomes showed up. You can't kick them sky high in the game and I wanted to exact some revenge on all the past encounters with the little bastards! The only thing that I had to watch out for was Steiner's eyes constantly watching my every move.

Finally, the Ice Cavern came into view. The entrance wasn't very wide, but it looked like it was as tall as the cliff. A chilly air wafted toward us, and I knew it would just get colder when we entered. Hopefully, it would only take a couple of hours at the most to get to the exit, bar the Black Waltz fight. But boy it was going to be cold. However despite the ice cold gale that blew at my long hair, I smiled inwardly at the accomplishment that we finally arrived at the Ice Caverns.

"Well this place will lead us straight up to Dali," I said. "So let's get going then. If we keep moving then we won't freeze into meat icicles while going through."

And so we entered into the very cold Ice Caverns. I couldn't help but feel shocked by the sight of the caverns. If the light refracted from the top, then it reflected down to the bottom levels, creating those different shades of blue, white, and other things I couldn't recognize. Even flowerets were weaved about, creating different sort of flowery bundles. Even I was curious enough to touch them, to see and feel what these wonders of nature were actually like.

"They're so beautiful." My thoughts were voiced as Garnet traced the edges of a frozen rose. I guess her own fascination was due to research, or the books that she would dive into.

"Princess, be careful!" Of course, Steiner would be worried, especially if they're in a place he had never been before.

"Ah come on Tin Man, let the girl enjoy the flowers," I said, trying to get the knight out of his tight as hell shell and to try and think outside the box. We paused for a bit so Garnet could look around. I took this moment to study her a bit more.

She was an incredibly beautiful young woman. I let my eyes wander and saw that her curves were very womanly, more so than in the game. The skin tight orange jumpsuit did absolutely nothing to hide the curve of her waist, the shape of her legs, or the wonderful sight of her ass. The material also was tight around this area so I could see the small mound that signified her pussy. Looking up I was that her breasts were larger than in the game. Probably a D-cup. It was a little hard to see exactly how big they were from the frilly white material covering them.

I suddenly began to imagine myself feeling her body and her moans as I felt certain spots. One hand massaged her left tit while the other rubbed her pussy through her jumpsuit. Her moans were turning me on and I began to grind my hardening dick against her ass from behind. I pushed my fingers in hard against her pussy and rubbed hard against it, and was rewarded with a loud moan from the princess.

"Oh Josh!" she said huskily as I sped up my movements and began to move forward and back, my dick rubbing between her ass. I reached down and unzipped my pants, releasing my hard cock before I moved my hands to massage both of her glorious tits. I continued to grind my dick against her ass, relishing in the feeling of her jumpsuit and the warmth of her ass on my penis. She spread her legs and my dick dropped between her thighs. She wiggled her ass so that my dick was positioned directly under her womanhood. She then tightened her thighs around my dick so that it wouldn't fall away before moving her ass back and forward, my dick grinding against her covered pussy. "Faster Josh. More!" I complied as I began to grunt slightly from the pleasure I was feeling from my dick sliding in and out of her thighs. I ripped open the frilly shirt that covered her tits and began to strongly fondle them, my fingers pinching her nipples. Garnet's moans became louder and her breathing quite heavy. I continued until she began to tremble. "I-I'm c-cumming!" she said.

I then shook my head. I couldn't believe that my thoughts had led so quickly down the path of sexual pleasure and into the proverbial gutter. 'Goes to prove that I'm still straight,' I thought to myself. I then realised that I was as stiff as a rock. My pants had tented quite visibly and my cock throbbed for the need to rub itself against Garnet's pussy. 'Shit!' I thought as I looked around franticly and fearfully. If Steiner saw me like this he wouldn't stop until he had thrown me down a crevasse somewhere round here. I sighed as no-one was paying attention to me, their eyes were drawn to the beauty of this place. I walked quickly to the front of everyone.

"Come on guys. We need to keep moving," I said. 'Geez Josh. Fantasizing about a game character. You should know better.' However I couldn't shake the feeling that Garnet was no longer a game character anymore.

We walked for about an hour, and everybody was cold except me. Even Steiner was under that tin suit. But the constant walking is what was keeping them from freezing, so they didn't complain. I didn't know why I was unaffected but I was very grateful. So far, the path had been pretty straight. We followed a few corridors, and when there was more than one path, we either chose the right one, or found that one was a dead end, letting us know that the other was the right way. It didn't happen often, so we were making pretty good time. Talk has been somewhat sparse, but a small conversation about the cavern was started up a few minutes ago.

"I've only read about this place," Garnet said as we walked down another hallway. She looked at one of the walls. It seems like she didn't tire of it, no matter how long we were in there. "But actually seeing it is better than any book could describe."

"I haven't seen it either," Vivi said. "My grandpa used to tell me about it, but I never knew where it was."

"Oh, you have family?" Steiner chimed in. "He must be worried about you."

Vivi looked down. "Well… no. He died a little while ago."

Steiner's metal footsteps stop, and he clears his throat nervously. We stop and look at him. He gives Vivi an apologetic look. "I am sorry Master Vivi, I shouldn't have-"

"It's ok," Vivi insisted. He looked up at him and said, "Don't worry about it. I've gotten over it."

Steiner was about to say something, but then we were rudely interrupted by a Wyerd. It was a big seaweed green coloured monster with four legs and massive tusks that curved up and over its front. Its red eyes looked bored, but appearances can be deceiving.

Upon laying eyes upon us, it growled, slowly building its voice in bravado. It was like a bull, running at us, hoping to slam us with its body. That gave me an idea.

I saw Vivi readying for a spell. I smirked inwardly, remaining still as the bull came at us. "Vivi," I said softly, getting his attention. "Don't release the spell."

Vivi's orb-like eyes widened. "What?" he asked loudly. I shushed him, and this time, he repeated the word softly. "What?"

"Just trust me," I said, not cluing him upon my little plan. "If you feel like you're flying, it's my fault." Okay, that might have made it worse. But he didn't ask more as he began shaking. I guess he was scared. I would apologise to him later.

The mist fiend then rushed at us, intending to at least break a few limbs.

"One . . ." I began readying my body, inching slowly upward.

"Two . . ." The monster was close. You could feel its hatred for us.

"Almost . . ." Vivi just stared at the beast. I bet he'll get a laugh for this.

"THREE!" I hoisted Vivi upward from his belt. He gripped his hat out of instinct, but also made a sound of surprise. I didn't make any notion of notice as I slid out of the way, but I saw that the fiend noticed my plan, and began to stop itself with its front claws. "I don't think so asshole!"

I slammed my sword into the ground and using the momentum of the slide, swung around in a circle, stuck out my foot and kicked the monster hard in the backside. And it worked. I just propelled it, and knocked it forward from its braking position. It screeched as it slid close to the edge.

Now what are the chances of it NOT falling over.

Well, it'd be… one to two million, four hundred fifty two thousand… and one.

And so, with this probability, I waved smugly and called out "Denied!" as it fell over the edge and into the darkness I dared not to look into. Hopefully, we didn't have to hear its body impacting at the very bottom.

I had put Vivi down, and I was surprised to find him shaken up. I felt a little guilty, especially from not telling him. But I could not make such a mistake due to the monster's presence from before. "Sorry about that, but that was a Wyerd and those buggers are strong against magic."

Vivi shook his head. "That's ok," he replied, looking better already.

We continued onward, now alert. Our fabricated ease from before was ripped apart, and I now kept Kuroshikon out, encase we were jumped again.

We walked further on, intending to exit the caverns. Now that the danger rating of monster encounters had been raised, we were more cautious. Steiner had his blade out, while my eyes zipped back and forward. I acted as the forward scout, while Steiner was the protection from behind. Garnet and Vivi were in the middle.

There was a scuffling sound and we all tensed. From the corner in front of us came two Wyerds and a Flan. Now the Flan looked like a piece of puked up slop, and it ain't pretty, that's DEFINITELY for sure. I waved to Vivi. "Burn that thing, it's obviously strong against weapons!"

"Why?" It was pure curiosity.

I turned as I saw Steiner take a slash at the yellow slop. Instantly the metal slid through, causing Steiner's eyes to widen. The Flan resealed the area that Steiner slashed, and hit him with the top of its head. "Ow!" He fell back, rubbing his now abused nose, as he stood protectively in front of the Princess.

I sighed. "That's why."

"Oh, okay then." I left Vivi to do his work, knowing quite well that we would soon have a puddle of gunk on the ground. I found myself watching as Steiner stood before the princess, pulling his sword back slowly.

His left hand held the hilt of his heavy sword with ease, while the right remained back, as if to lash out at the fiend if the sword missed.

At the right moment, he slashed sideward, slitting the fiend's flat face. It screeched as blood spurted out, but that didn't stop the knight. His right hand came up, in a flat-hand uppercut. It jolted the fiend's head upward, and I swore I saw a glint of excitement in the man's eyes.

He adjusted his sword, and had the sword down. Using both hands, he pulled it up, slicing through layers of flesh, bone, and obviously, brain. What ended in the two hit attack was a pile of dead meat. It moaned, but with hardly enough life to keep it alive. It collapsed, dead, and useless.

"Nice job Steiner!" I couldn't help but be impressed. That sword work was amazing, and beyond what I had seen in those stupid medieval movies. Then again, those actors were never in a life-death situation like these people.

However it was then that Vivi shouted, "Watch out!" and I turned to see the last Wyerd was aiming at me.

But I simply rolled to the side and brought Kuroshikon to the side. As the monster ploughed straight past me I drew the sword right through the beast. The two halves fell apart as the Wyerd's feet stopped moving and slid off in another direction. Kinda like when Odin uses his steal-bladed sword on monsters and it causes instant death. I stood up and used the same trick that Dante used in the first anime episode of Devil May Cry to rid most of the blood on Kuroshikon by flicking it strongly to the side, splashing blood across the icy wall. The force was strong enough for all the blood to come off so I rested Kuroshikon against my shoulder and turned to the others. "All finished up here."

Everyone was looking as the damage I had dealt to the monster. Steiner was wide eyed from my skill with Kuroshikon; Vivi was in awe at pretty much everything I did, and the princess was looking at me in wonder. I blinked at the attention I was getting. I wasn't used to being centre stage so I was a little nervous. I turned around but still felt their eyes on me. I placed Kuroshikon onto my back and started to walk down the path.

"C'mon guys, we need to keep moving if we don't want to get hypothermia," I called over my shoulder and smiled slightly as they followed me.

We continued onward. By now the group had stopped talking altogether. The monster encounter had also stopped as the temperature was still dropping. Something I was thankful for as it was so cold that I would be the only person able to fight. Speaking of the group, the moral had suddenly dropped as sharply as the temperature, and the winds became stronger. I was still practically unphased by the cold, for some unknown reason which I had decided not to pursue at that moment.

"Come on, we're almost there!" I said cheerfully. Well, I forced myself to be cheery; we at least needed to get through this first. "As soon as we reach the top, we'll be free of this damn place." I then thought back to when Garnet had said that this place was beautiful. "Beautiful place my ass, this place kills!" Even thought I wasn't cold, my muscles were quite sore from the climbing.

We were now in a tall hall-like area, where the winds seemed to increase in strength by several folds. I only continued to strengthen my strides, now leading us onward. Our strategy of position was trashed, as the cold was affecting the others too much.

As we trekked onward, I took the chance to look at the rest of the crew, only to find and pity them. Garnet showed signs of near frostbite. Her skin was deadly pale, her hair messed by the winds, and her skin tight clothes didn't look heavy enough to be considered protection against the cold. Steiner… well, I didn't like him at the current moment, but I felt sorry for him. He was wearing ARMOUR. Cold and armour… well, the combination isn't nice, and I watched as he 'waddled' his way onward. And Vivi brought up the rear. His steeple hat's brim was filled with snow, and I noticed how his whole body shivered. And since his steeple hat was weighed down by the snow, I could only imagine how hard it was for him to see.

"That's it!" I said and summoned my wings into view. I then walked back and drew Garnet to my right side and Vivi to my left. When they were in position I wrapped my wings around them both. I had to yell as the wind had picked up.

"I hope this helps!" I yelled to Garnet and Vivi. I didn't hear any replies but they continued on walking. Then, on the howling wind, I heard a tinkling sound. A bell.

Crap.

"It's—It's so cold… I can't see…" said Vivi, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Just keep pushing!" I replied back, but it was no use. Vivi collapsed into the snow. As soon as he hit the ground, he slipped into unconsciousness.

"Vivi!" I called to him before hearing a clank of metal behind me. I then knew that Steiner had fallen too.

"Shit!" I swore. Damn that Black Waltz. Damn the fact that he could use magic. And fricken damn the fact that he's a sadistic bastard who wants us to die in such a horrific way. I was now being affected by the magic as the bell chimed again.

Then Garnet stopped and fell forward onto her face. I dispersed my wings and turned her over to make sure that she could still breathe. Again the bell rang through the air as I also succumbed to my aching bones.

"Shit, shit, shit… shi… shit… this… sucks…"

I could feelmy body shutting down. My sense of smell disappeared, and soon enough I lost my sense of touch as my body became numb instantly… my sense of hearing vanished as my ears no longer heard the sounds of the wind… and finally… my eyes simply lost sight. And just like that, I lost consciousness as I fell forward next to Garnet.

Of course, like any character in a game, I did have one conscious remark before falling asleep. Unfortunately my last words were pretty pathetic.

Damn that fuckin Black Waltz.


	7. Chapter 7: By Myself

**Chapter 7: By Myself**

I opened my eyes and saw white all around me. I blinked and, feeling stiff in the joints, attempted to get up and stretch. I looked around and saw that I was still on top of a freaking mountain. Yep, still here.

But why? I was supposed to be knocked out by the sound of the bell. I looked around and saw my companions in the snow, probably freezing and getting closer to death every second they were sleeping. I had to do something about it. It was then that I realised that I was alone. There was no Zidane to back me up.

Crap!

Seeing that Garnet, Vivi and even Steiner wouldn't last very long unattended, I resolved to move ahead and beat the fuck out of the Black Mage.

I walked as quickly as I could toward where the bastard would be. I still wasn't cold, but the wind was strong, pushing against me. I just followed the chiming of the bell.

I didn't really know how far I walked, but it must've been a few minutes before I felt a change in the air. I felt like growling at the feeling that was overwhelming the place, and influencing the torrents of wind. The air was filled with something strange. It felt too similar to the cold itself, too… manifested.

"What! How are you still awake?!" I looked straight up, and pinpointed the one who was behind it all. Man, I thought he would look cool looking, despite how pissed off I felt. I was very wrong. Purple and blue stitched clothing? Poofy gloves and pants, and boots that looked to be torn into rags? And that hat… He looked like a large third-hand plushy toy who had too many encounters of the fourth kind. Like some strange freak show. If I wasn't going to beat the snot out of him, I would have felt sorry for him… maybe… no.

"Sorry to disappoint, asshole!" I roared over the wind. I drew Kuroshikon in one hand and started to walk menacingly toward him.

As expected, he jumped down, landing on the ground with little impact. It seems that the cushioning in his legs was more than enough to soften the fall. He scoffed at me, waving the bell before him. I felt disgusted by the change in the atmosphere as he began to guffaw loudly and rudely. I felt the magic try to enter my mind, but I imagined a thick Shellga spell between my mind and the advancing magic. It seemed to do the trick.

"Nice try asswipe," I said grinning, before picking up speed and running toward the aforementioned asswipe. I swung Kuroshikon around to cleave him across the chest. But the Black Waltz no.3 jumped back before I could connect.

"Could you, pretty please, quit this fucking snowstorm? Otherwise I will beat the black stuffing out of you," I said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Do you think I'd listen to a stupid human? Allow me to educate you, you sack of meat. I am the great Black Waltz! One of a kind, and the original who shall defeat you!"

I blinked. "Uhh… you just contradicted yourself," I replied while pointing at it.

The Black Waltz stopped. "What?" it said intelligently.

"Well you said that you're one of a kind, but then you said you're an original. Make up your mind jackass," I explained, shaking my head pitifully at it.

"Quiet you meat bag! You've crossed the line with that tongue of yours!" yelled the Black Waltz no.3.

"Yeah, yeah; whatever you say jackass. Let's just get this on eh?" I asked in a lazy tone while I raised Kuroshikon high in the air and jumped at him. Again he dodged but I was closer to getting him. He seemed to realise cause he thrust the bell before him, and I winced as its rupturing chimes rang throughout the area. "Sealion! I beckon thee, rise from Hell to aid your master!"

The bell suddenly stilled itself, no longer swinging back and forth on its hinges. I froze as I felt something change instantly. And I had noticed its eerie stillness. It was as if it had been frozen, as if an invisible hand had taken hold of it. But as soon as I thought that, it rang loudly, its ring reverberating throughout the room.

And soon, a roar, a disgusting grunt of a roar echoed in the room, causing it to shake from the amount of power behind it.

"Oh crap!" I felt my knees buckle slightly as something materialized out of pure air, and slowly began to form.

"Daaiiiiiiiiimn…" was all I could say at the monstrosity in front of me.

Simple description: A creature that god used as bubblegum before upchucking it into the ocean where it was crushed by several kilometres of water, then removed and rolled back up into a ball before forming into something so hideous that even Satan would scream like a school girl on a horror movie date. Yep, it was that messed up. And I thought the plant monster was ugly.

Proper description: It was just a mutated sea walrus with thick blubbery skin. The colour of its skin was a natural bruise colour, and the speckles all over its body made it look like a spotted bruise. The flippers it possessed looked too thin and fragile to possibly hold it up in the air. However they were practically slicing into the walls of the cavern like a hot knife in warm butter, causing little fragments of the ice to fall to the cavern floor. The walrus itself had blood shot eyes which were wide and monstously ugly, and its whiskers were thick and coarse. And within the centre of its chest was a single orb of flowing sapphire, pulsating with the rhythm of a heartbeat.

The Black Waltz shot its pudgy arm forward, the bell ringing carelessly as it swung back and forth in the being's hand. "Sealion! Attack that man!"

The huge… _thing_ rumbled towards me. I started to run towards the side, glaring at the Black Waltz. It looked too damn smug to even be considered powerful. It was practically leaving its whole body open to any sort of attack. Yep, it was definitely too damn f-in' smug to even notice my approach.

The thing's permanent loss then.

I summoned my wings, turned toward the Black Waltz and shot towards it until I was streaking over the snow. I soared up and I saw its eyes widen before I swung across its throat with the intention of cutting its head off. This time it did connect and one loud rip later, its head flew off and sailed away, the shocked expression still plastered in its eyes. However it seemed it wasn't dead yet.

"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU! SEALION!" the head shrieked before imploding on itself. The bell went silent and the blizzard calmed down until the howling wind was just a small breeze. The body that was left over stiffened before toppling over and landing in the snow, unmoving.

I breathed a sigh of relief before I realised that the 'sin against nature' was still around. And it was currently looking pissed.

"O-oh… I don't suppose you can forget that I just killed your master?" I asked Selion with a nervous smile before all of a sudden a feeling of energy washed over me. I had felt this before.

"Trance!" I said before the feeling changed. Last time I had Trance I felt energy flowing through me before I felt calm and gentle, followed by white energy shooting out of me. However this wasn't what I felt. After the energy of my Trance made itself known, I suddenly felt empty, apathetic. Like there was no emotion inside me. No anger, no joy, no sadness… absolutely nothing. Then there was a sense of sharpness, like all my battle stats maxed out to 255. Looking around I saw black energy waft around me in the shape of many black feathers. Looking down I saw the second kanji symbol on my sword pulse with silver energy before my sword morphed into a very long, silver nodachi. My hair also changed, growing longer, much longer, and turning silver. One of my wings dissapeared as my clothes changed into a suit of black leather and metal. I knew then, that this transformation was for a different purpose.

Without waiting to ponder this new feeling, I launched into the air and started zipping around at high speeds. I slashed, cut, swiped and stabbed for 20 seconds in this supersonic state before flying back to where I was before. Several seconds passed before the Sealion just fell apart. The monster had literally been sliced and diced to bits. The many neat cubes of flesh fell to the ground before fading into black mist and dissolved away.

After a few seconds after the monster had disappeared I felt my Trance leaving me again. As the last few wisps of power left me, I sunk to the ground and almost blacked out. But fear for my new friends in the snow, out cold, kept me from slipping into unconscious. I staggered to my feet and walked over to where the Black Waltz lay. I searched his pockets and discovered a large bag of Gil.

"Cha-Ching!" I grinned. Happy with my find I then began to trudge back to where my friends were.

As I was walking back I thought back to the times I had evoked Trance. Both forms had been familiar, especially the recent one. I could've sworn that I turned into Sephiroth to kick ass to the demonic seal. I figured that I would need to see it once more, in a different form, to get a better understanding of it.

When I arrived back where I left my friends, nothing had changed. Garnet, Vivi and Steiner was still face up in the snow. But now that the wind had died down to a whisper of what it was before; they would last much longer. I bent down and wrapped Vivi up under one arm. I then wrapped my other arm around Garnet and made sure both were secure. Then I walked awkwardly over to Steiner and grasped him with both hands. Finally I summoned my wings and began to slowly rise through the icy pass and into the warm, calm lands above it.

* * *

><p>As soon as I had cleared the cavern I set the three down on the ground. The sky was almost completely dark. I decided that we would spend the night here and quickly got to work on the tent.<p>

After an hour of getting the campsite ready and lighting the fire, I heard some shuffling around in the tent, indicating that someone was awake.

After a few moments, Garnet's head poked through the tent flaps and looked around the campsite. She caught sight of me and looked a little confused.

"Hey there! Good to see you awake," I said.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Can you wait til Vivi and Steiner wake up? I'm too tired to repeat myself at the moment," I explained. "In the meantime, why don't you warm yourself up next to the fire."

Garnet nodded and stepped out of the tent. She walked over to the fire and sat down next to me. We stayed like that for several minutes before she spoke up.

"Do you think the Tantalus group has escaped from the forest?" she asked.

"Probably. They'll most likely be making their way to Lindblum but since they're thieves by profession, they'll be sneaking through South Gate instead of trekking the same path we are," I answered, punctured by a yawn.

"I see," she said before going silent. Half an hour later the other two were up.

"Ok, after the three of you fell unconscious from the cold I too was knocked out. At least for a while. For some reason I don't know, I awoke again. The three of you were under some sort of spell so I tried to find the source. I did find it. It was a Black Mage." At this point Vivi gasped a little. I looked at him. "No Vivi, he wasn't like you. This one was evil. He called himself a Black Waltz, and that he was sent to recapture the princess." I took a deep breath. "I fought him and defeated him. I then came back and, seeing that you hadn't woken up yet, I carried you out to here."

"I see," said Garnet.

"Princess, you cannot trust the words of a brigand like him!" raved Steiner.

"Really? Brigand? That's the best you can come up with?" I asked Steiner, not impressed at his limited vocabulary of name calling. "Well it's up to you if you believe me or not. Apart from that the town of Dali is about a six hour walk from here. We'll set out tomorrow, but feel free to sleep in if you wish. You guys were very cold when I carried you out. Best to recover as much as you can, when you can. Any questions?" I looked around but no-one asked anything. That night everyone slept peacefully, even me since I was allowed to sleep in the tent now. I made sure that Vivi was in the middle of me and the princess just in case I rolled over and ended up in a compromising position with the hot raven haired beauty.

The morning came quickly, however we were still wiped out from the trek through the snow and cold. I still felt the effects of my Trance. So we didn't get moving till just before midday. Soon we were packed up and approaching Dali. We crossed over a crest of a hill and saw the small village below us. I turned around to face everyone.

"Well, this is Dali. A little quiet for my taste but perfect for country dwellers or people looking to get away from the busy life in the city," I introduced the town.

"Looks nice," said Vivi.

"It sounds like you've been everywhere, Josh." There was a trace of envy in Garnet's voice, but for the most part, she seemed exhilarated to be outside in the sunshine and fresh air. "The only other worlds I've visited are in books."

"Books are a good way to learn but nothing compares to looking, feeling and smelling it for the first time," I said while smiling at the princess. "Even the manure dumped on the farms to fertilize them is invigorating," I added sarcastically. This brought a giggle from both Garnet and Vivi.

"Well, let us be off then!" said Steiner, seemingly wanting to hurry up.

"Hold your chocobos, guys!" I said before wincing, cursing at the fact that I just quoted Wakka from FFX. And it wasn't even a good quote. "The Alexandrian knights won't be looking for you, me and Vivi but the Princess is definitely on the top of their to-do list." I then turned my attention on to the young woman. "I think you need an alias name to go under." She glanced up at me sharply, surprised by my suggestion. At the same time, heavy, clanking metal rattled angrily from behind. I spun around just in time to witness Steiner charging towards me.

"Insolent fool!" The knight tried to cuff me in the shoulder, but I dodged to the side at the last instant, making him stumble slightly. He straightened up before giving me a verbal lashing. "Her highness need not sneak around! Besides, we're heading back to the castle! Either you leave her alone or you address her by her title as befits a silly peasant such as yourself!"

"Uh... no," I said simply. "Maybe you should be asking what she wants rather than try to step around her to try and get her home."

"Josh is correct. I do _not_ intend to return to the castle," Garnet said firmly. I smirked at the sight of a big man like the Pluto Knight slumping forward in defeat. Evidently, Garnet won that round and she looked resplendent. She certainly was pretty when she was angry – especially when she was angry at Steiner. My mind then began to drive off the road and into the proverbial gutter, again, when she turned to me. "Do you have any suggestions?" she asked, bringing me back to the cruel reality where I wasn't doing certain MA rated things to her that should never be in a PG rated game.

"Uhh... let me think," I replied before searching through all the names I could think of. I finally settled on one I really liked.

"Dawn. Whacha think?" I asked, hoping she would like it. She smiled and nodded. "It is very acceptable."

I smiled back before I got serious again. "You also need to change your speech." She looked a little lost so I clarified. "The way you speak is too royal, too refined. You need to speak like the commoners, which can often be rough around the edges."

The princess nodded. "I understand."

I smiled amusedly at her. "We're not signing a treaty between nations here Dawn. Instead say OK or 'yeah'. Try it."

Dawn hesitated. "O-okay,"

"Good," I grinned. "I have a feeling you'll be a fast learner." I then turned back to the town. "OK! Let's go." And with that, I placed my hands on Dawn's shoulders and began to steer her towards the village. I turned toward the other two travellers but relaxed when Vivi walked in front of Steiner. He would have to either push Vivi off the mountain pass that we were on or crush him against the wall. He would do neither and I was happy. I didn't want the killjoy to kill the joy I was getting from my closeness from the newly named Dawn. I then sped up so I was walking side by side with her.

"Ok! Listen closely my young pupil. Commoner speech is an ancient and sacred art. We like to cut corners in speaking. Instead of saying 'I will,' just say 'I'll.' And sometimes it's okay to be a little rude to get the message through. Instead of suggesting 'we make haste', no one's gonna mind an order or two. 'Hurry up!' or 'Move your ass!' That's perfectly acceptable in our world. And when saying hello to a group of friends, instead of saying 'Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone' say 'Hi guys!' Even if there are some girls in the group, it don't matter," I said all the while grinning at her.


	8. Chapter 8: Dark Secrets of Dali

**Chapter 8: Dark Secrets of Dali**

By the time we got down to the village, the sun was well on its way down and the sky was now a beautiful shade of crimson, orange and dark blue. Streaks of cloud floated across the sky, highlighted in a golden colour from the setting sun.

As we passed the crop fields, or rather, lack of them, Dawn was looking quite hungry as she hadn't eaten in 24 hours. The food she had in her pockets had long since been consumed and so it was understandable that her stomach was growling softly. Yet she fixed her gaze downward on the road, only looking up to see the village, in slight embarrassment.

The village was certainly a quaint little place, with small, stone cottages, evenly spaced apart from each other, and a mossy, cobbled lane that wound gracefully down the centre. Freshly ploughed grass blanketed the ground while a tall, verdant tree bearing ample golden fruit spoke of a charm not normally found in larger communities. Birds sang, crickets chirped, and in the distance, a tall windmill ground and grated, its blades spinning restfully on an axle. Vivi perked right up when he saw it, though I called him back before he could wander too far ahead.

"We're not here to sightsee kiddo," I said softly to him but relented. "But you can check it out tomorrow." Vivi nodded happily.

Dali's single inn stood to our right, a slightly larger building from which the mouth-watering smell of roasted meat wafted outside, making me feel very warm inside.

"Mmmmmmmm... That smells goooooood," I said in a dreamy voice as I opened the door of the inn and walked inside, Dawn, Vivi and Steiner behind me.

The relatively tiny, circular lobby was, at present, abandoned. It was dimly lit with only a single gas lantern struggling to keep the shadows at bay. The stone floor had recently been cleared of all the moss creeping up through its cracks, the wooden desk had been polished, and even as Dawn and Vivi joined me, both of whom were watching uncertainly as Steiner bellowed impatiently for service, a single moogle appeared from the passageway leading towards the guestroom.

"Must... resist... to touch..." I said between my gritted teeth. Dawn caught what I had said and giggled softly.

'I will never get tired of hearing her laugh,' I thought to myself.

"For the last time!" Steiner hollered, his voice loud enough to make the moogle retreat several steps. "Is this an inn or isn't it? Are we to be standing here all night?"

"Steiner, with the greatest possible respect, will you zip your howling screamer!" I hissed at him as a door on the far side of the lobby flew open. Immediately, a voice every bit as obnoxious as the Pluto Knight's sounded from afar.

"Confound it, Hal! I don't give a flying chocobo about tradition! Our father would appreciate the progress we've made!"

The door must have led into the kitchen, for the delectable aroma that had been taunting us up until now swiftly grew stronger as a portly man wearing a red tunic and blue cap emerged with his back to us. "The hell with what father would appreciate!" From the corner of my eye, I saw Dawn flinch. She clearly wasn't used to country swearing. "You chose to run for office! I got stuck with the inn! So don't you come in here telling my staff members what to bloody cook or how to do their fucking jobs! When I finish with this, you'd best be outta here!" And with that, he slammed the door shut and turned to greet his customers, red-faced, sweaty, and in no mood for Steiner's hotheaded shenanigans, much to my amusement. "There's no call for your bellyaching, sir. If you want to find business elsewhere, be my guest. I don't even know how much longer I intend to stay here, so it really makes no difference to me."

"Oh, so totally owned!" I whispered at Vivi. He giggled softly at my remark. I then spoke up.

"You'll have to forgive this idiot here," I said, walking up to the desk where I immediately handed Hal the pouch of Gil I swiped off the clothes from Black Waltz no.3. "He's loud, conceited, and a total ass." Steiner snarled, which confirmed my accusation, at least in the innkeeper's mind. He eyed the Pluto Knight in particular disgust while I took full advantage of his bias. "Please, we've come a long way. If you've got any appreciation for what we've had to put up with, you'll at least give my girlfriend some food and a warm bed." I pointed at a blushing Dawn who had overheard me and when Hal glanced her way, his red face paled several shades. She was standing a few feet back, holding Vivi's hand while strategically embracing her own chest with her free arm, effectively covering the Royal Pendant from sight. I knew exactly where or rather, who, he was really staring at but decided to cut him a break. "Hey!" I leaned in closer to the gaping man. "I know she's smokin' hot," I quietly reprimanded with a knowing grin, "but it's rude of you to stare."

"Oh!" Hal started, his face flushing in embarrassment. "I… I didn't mean… I…" He grimaced, clenching his eyes shut in dismay. "The dining room is to your right. The guestroom is down the hall past the moogle." He gestured at them both and I thanked him cheerfully, winking at Steiner as I headed towards the food. Hal was so flustered he hadn't even asked for a specific amount of Gil – and I hadn't given him all that much to begin with. I had removed most of the money from the bag I had given him and had deposited it into my own Gil pouch. Our stay here was gonna be a real steal! Zidane would be proud of me.

The dining room looked much the same as the lobby, but there were also circular tables with wooden chairs and a warm hearth in the back. It looked like an eating area and pub straight out of England and so I was perfectly at ease, when all of a sudden Dawn stood at my side, whispering in my ear. "Why did the innkeeper speak of only a single guestroom?"

"Eeeeoooohhh…" I replied, realising what the beautiful raven head was getting at. "Sorry Dawn, but inns out in the country only house shared rooms for groups. There isn't enough space for private rooms. You'll only put up with it until we're at Lindblum," I said with an apologetic face. "We can worry about that later. Who wants food?" I asked, grinning.

Both Dawn and Vivi perked up at the mention of food. We then moved to an empty table that had fresh bread rolls on it. I sat with Vivi and Dawn sitting next to me and Steiner directly opposite me.

I grabbed two rolls, handing one to Vivi as he was having trouble trying to grab one for himself and passed the basket to Dawn. She took one and we all began to dig in. At that moment the innkeeper, Hal, entered the room, carrying a large tray bearing four plates, mugs, roasted chicken, gravy and a pitcher of mead. He seemed determined not to look at Dawn again, for he kept his gaze fixed firmly on Vivi – if not on myself – as he hastily set the table. After he had finished he said "If you need anything else, I'll be in the lobby." And with that he all but flew out of the dining room.

"Alright! Now this is what I'm talking about! Chicken!" I said enthusiastically as I grabbed several hunks of chicken and dumped it onto my plate. I then served some for Vivi before turning to Dawn. "Now my esteemed student, while eating in a commoner's inn, many people eat with their fingers," I said in a Asian master tone, making her smile though she was still very focused on what I was saying. "Observe," I said before ripping into the meat, though not looking like a total barbarian. She hesitated before taking off her gloves, picking up a leg and biting into it softly. Then all thought of etiquette was left behind as she began to eat hungrily.

"That's it! But don't eat too fast. You don't want to choke," I warned before going back to my own meal. However it seemed that this dinner was to be ruined.

"I've heard enough!" Steiner exclaimed, rising to his feet. I looked lazily up at him. "What have you heard enough of this time?" I sighed.

"You!"

"Ahh, me! I'm loving this topic already!" I replied with a big grin.

"Princess!" Steiner said tersely. I was very tempted to say, 'No, I'm not the Princess. I don't have a plump enough ass for that,' but thought that wouldn't go over so well.

"I can hardly abide this beastly conduct! Master Vivi!" He turned towards the black mage, who glanced up at him attentively. "I look to you to protect her highness in my absence. I must find a way to return her safely home."

"Steiner," Dawn moaned, shaking her head miserably, but the knight was already storming out of the dining room. She glanced at me desperately, she seemed to silently plead with me to do something, but I shook my head.

"Give him some time to simmer down. He just believes he is doing his duty to you," I said sadly, wondering how in the world anyone sworn to defend another could know so little about his charge that he couldn't even recognize her obvious despair. Steiner was as blind as he was stupid. At least, for the moment.

"Come on," I said after a moment, sliding out of my chair and helping Dawn to her feet. "Let's look for the washroom. I'm sure Hal won't mind if you took a nice, warm bath. It'll make you feel better." She glanced at me sadly, which assured me there was nothing in the entire world short of a miracle that could make her feel at all better on this night.

* * *

><p><em>"A voice from the past joining yours and mine, adding up the layers of harmony…" <em>'Who's singing?' _"And so it goes on and on…" _'Her voice…'_ "Melodies of life… to the sky beyond the flying birds…" _'It's so beautiful…' _"Forever and beyond…" _

'Ah... that's right,' I thought as I smiled softly. It was possibly early morning and Dawn was singing. Truly her voice was heavenly. Like an angle's. 'She must not be able to sleep and so she's singing softly to put herself at ease.'

I sighed blissfully, shifting beneath my bedcovers. I would sleep well from here on out. I closed my eyes slowly as Dawn's singing crawled into my mind and manifested itself as a warm mental blanket.

* * *

><p>I awoke to a very nice, homey smell. The smell of freshly baked bread. I sat up slowly. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm hot bread..." I said dreamily. I looked around for the source and saw Dawn cutting off a slice; steam still wafting out of the open loaf.<p>

"Man that smells so good!" I said as I stood up and walked over to the bread. "Morning Dawn. Sleep well?" I asked, knowing full well that she didn't.

"No." She sat down on her bed and I grabbed the plate of bread and sat next to her, taking a bite and sighing at the taste. The sound of soft giggling caught my ears and I looked to see Dawn trying to stifle her laughter.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Your hair..." she managed to say before starting off again.

I looked up before walking over to a mirror in the corner. My hair was sticking up everywhere.

"Ugh, don't look, don't look. Haven't you ever seen bedhair before?" I asked as I began to flatten it to the usual badass look.

"No," the Princess replied. I nodded to myself in the mirror, satisfied that I had all the kinks out before returning to my seat and my hot bread.

"By the way, you have a very nice singing voice," I said casually but she whipped her head around at me, looking horrified and surprised.

"What?" I said, smiling. "Didn't think I would notice?" I asked.

She looked slightly embarrassed and chose to eat some more of the bread.

I sighed. "Ok, don't want to talk about it. I can respect that." I then stood up and walked over to Vivi's bed. The little black mage was still fast asleep. I placed my hand on his shoulder and gently shook him.

"Hey kiddo, time to get up," I said softly in a sing song voice. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me. "Oh, morning Josh," he said sleepily.

"Morning yourself," I replied. I then handed him a chunk of the still steaming bread. "This ought to wake you up," I said as he took the bread and chewed on it. Instantly he sighed. I smiled and patted his shoulder. "Tastes good, don't it?" I said before walking back over to Dawn. "We should go get a proper breakfast from the dining room." The two nodded and we trouped out of the guest room.

The atmosphere in the dining room was quiet save for two farmers feeding themselves before the start of their work day. We sat down at a table next to a window and waited for a few minutes before the food came out thanks to Hal. He even brought a high chair for Vivi to sit in so he didn't have to reach uncomfortably. Vivi thanked him very politely and Hal blinked at him a few times before he shook his head slightly and moved away. Probably wondered why Vivi was so polite when he thought he was a mindless killing black mage.

This time there were knives and forks so I ate more politely than last night. There were beef sausages, bacon, eggs, toast and butter, orange juice, milk. Last night's chicken didn't leave a strong impression because I was quite hungry at the time so I didn't care. But the spread this morning had me confused. Why on earth or Gaia in this world, were there earth things like bacon and orange juice. This was supposed to be a completely different world. I dismissed this train of thought as I didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth that there was food normality here. I certainly didn't want to eat chocobo sausages or juice from an unknown and questionable source.

As we all ate our breakfast Vivi asked me if we could visit the windmill. I nodded and said yes even though I knew what would happen to him but I promised myself I would bust him out as soon as possible. I then suggested to Dawn that she talk to some of the townspeople to practice her lingo. She nodded before taking a bite out of some more hot bread. With our day planed we polished off our meal and headed out into the town.

First we moved as a group to the item store. Actually it was called Eve's Item Shop. Dawn browsed the clothing side while listening to the conversations around her. I picked out a leather shirt and pants made for a kid and suggested that Vivi put them on. When he asked why I replied that, while the clothes he had on at the moment were nice-ish, it would be more practical to wear something that didn't pool around your feet. "And make you trip," I added. He agreed and while he was a little sad to part with his clothes that his grandpa had given him he was also excited to be trying new clothes. When he changed he looked quite different. Not as recognisable or stylish as my clothes (hard to beat my badass outfit) but enough to get by for the moment. He kept the large mage hat though.

"We'll go clothes shopping for real when we get to Lindblum and get you an awesome outfit," I promised. I then payed up the cost and told Dawn that we would be back. I then took Vivi to see the windmill. At first he was running around like a little kid (which he was, duh!) and seemed to touch everything. Then he calmed down and we just sat down next to the building and looked out across the field.

"This place sure is peaceful, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah," Vivi replied as he continued to gaze out over the field.

"I heard that chocobos graze here from time to time," I added.

"Really?" the little Black Mage asked as he turned to me, golden eyes wide and full of wonder and curiosity.

"Sure. I'm going to go see how Dawn is going. Don't want her blowing her cover by accident," I said as I stood up. "Will you be ok here?"

Vivi nodded, swinging his legs a bit on the bench. I smiled. "Let me know how many chocobos you see when I get back. I won't be too long." I then patted him on the shoulder and then I made my way back to Eve's shop. It pained me to do so, but how else were we going to discover Dali's dirty little secret without me using my knowledge and looking suspicious.

Back in the Item shop, Dawn was continuing to observe the interactions of other people. "Hey, learn anything new?" I asked as I stood next to her and raised my teashades onto my forehead.

"I have a question. The owner of this shop was approached by a young boy who gave a flower to her. She responded with a tight hug before thanking the boy. Is that a normal reaction?" she asked.

"Uhh, to some, yeah. It depends on how long the two have known each other. If so, then the girl might give the other a hug as a heartfelt 'thank you' instead of just saying it," I explained. I didn't mention that it also depended on the personality the girl had, or if the two were 'more than close' but knew it was something she needed to figure out herself.

"I see. Thank y… I mean, thanks," she replied, catching herself in time.

"Good job," I smiled and patted her on the head fondly. This was easy to do since she was quite shorter than me, only about 5 foot 3 or so inches tall, while I was a full 6 feet tall. She blinked at this before she closed her eyes and smiled in response. "You seem familiar with this?" I asked.

"My father did this to me when I was very young. It is the only thing of him I remember," she replied.

"I'm sorry," I said and withdrew my hand.

"No, no. It is al… its ok. I don't mind it," she responded.

There was a moment of silence between us. "Well, we still need to find ourselves a ride to the city. Shall we investigate?" She nodded and we left the shop together.

Outside there seemed to be a change in the atmosphere. The air seemed colder and the wind was starting to pick up. However there were no signs of heavy clouds anywhere, but I knew that this far up in the mountains, weather was unpredictable. "I think there's some rain coming. Let's get Vivi before we start enquiring around. Hopefully we can get something before the weather rolls in," I suggested as I pushed my teashades back over my eyes.

"Ok, Josh," she replied.

Of course by the time we reached the windmill, Vivi was already taken. "I could've sworn he was over there before," I said out loud as we walked over and stopped at the bench from before. "He was gonna count how many chocobos would pop up while I was gone." At that point I heard a faint whistling that I recognised as a chocobo. It seemed that the chocobos in this world sounded like those in FFXIV A Realm Reborn. Before I was pulled into this world, I watched the 8 and a half minute long CGI trailer for the game and had participated in the third phase of the Beta on my PS3. So I knew that chocobo 'language' was made up of whistling noises and 'kweh' sounds.

"That was a chocobo, I'm sure of it," I replied to Dawn. "Vi said he heard one round here somewhere."

We then stood silently, waiting for another sound, but what came instead was a very faint sniffing sound, accompanied by whimpering just as soft. "Is someone crying?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, I hear it too," I replied. I made a bit of a show on homing in on the sound to an open pipe buried in the ground to the left of us. "Hello?" I called down the pipe.

There was a moment of silence. "…Josh?" a voice called back. It was still faint, but it was stronger than before.

"Vi! Where are you, kiddo?" I asked. "Can you move at all? Why are you underground?"

There was a pause. "They told me to stay here…"

"Are you hurt?" I asked.

"No," was the reply.

"That's something at least. Just hang tight. We'll be down there very soon, I promise," I assured.

"…Okay," Vivi replied, already sounding better.

I stood up. "The hell is going on in this village," I muttered before turning to Dawn. "Ok, there's got to be an underground passage somewhere nearby. Let's search for it and find Vivi."

"Okay!" Dawn replied.

"Now, there's no way they'd have the entrance out in the open," I said, as if I was thinking it out. "Somewhere inside a building." I then turned my head to the windmill. "How much you want to bet that the entrance is in there?" I asked Dawn, pointing at the structure.

She looked over, then back at me, sceptical. "Surely the entrance wouldn't be that obvious, would it?"

"Well something tells me that whatever they are hiding, secrecy wouldn't be a big priority. Ease of access would be," I replied before we entered the building. As soon as we entered, I spotted a large metal dome to the left of the entrance. I gripped the side and heaved it open. "Voilà," I said as the dome exposed a dark underground entrance.

"I guess it really was quite obvious," Dawn muttered, sounding surprised that we found it so easily.

"Well not to be rude to country folk, but the thought patterns of most farmers who live in the country all their lives are predictable and more geared towards practicality then, say, someone from the city. Like I said before, it's most likely meant to be easy to access rather than a secret." I then looked around. "But no guard… I guess we caught this place on a shift change. Let's get moving before the new guard starts his shift." Dawn nodded and she went first into the hole. After a few seconds I followed her, making sure to pull the metal lid closed after me.

Down below the ladder led to a natural cave system. There were a few stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the cave. The place was also brightly lit with burning torches positioned in numerous spots around the room.

I stepped off the ladder and looked at Dawn, who was taking in the sights. "C'mon, let's keep the pace up," I said and she nodded.

We walked forward and came across a small lift that transported people off a high ledge to the main pathway four or so meters below us. But instead of bothering with that, I released my wings, grasped Dawn strongly around her shoulders and flew us down. She had given a small start of surprise but almost instantly forgot as she took in the sight of my wings for the short trip down. I dismissed the appendages and we continued on in silence.

The next room was different from the first one. This one had several manmade structures in it. There was a small hut with a very large barrel next to it, and behind that was a chocobo pen and well.

"This isn't your run-of-the-mill underground storage," I muttered to myself.

"What's going on?" Dawn asked, a little too loudly and I placed two fingers to her lips while doing the same for myself. She got the message and we crept forward quietly.

"Why is it moving?" a man's voice asked from inside the hut.

"Is it true that the mayor's brother found it?" another one asked.

"Those two were at each other's throats before. I guess they reconciled. His brother's one of us now," a younger toned man's voice said.

"Wasn't he siding with the old bat before?" the first man asked.

"You mean about abandoning the farm? I reckon he only said that to ruffle the mayor's feathers," the young man replied. "Besides, who cares? We need more workers anyways. Let's put this one back into a box for today's shipment and get back to work."

"Yeah, I guess the guys at the castle will take care of it," the second man replied.

I didn't need to look back to know that Dawn had tensed up about the mentioning of 'the castle'. I felt her shift behind me, knowing she was looking at the sticker on the large barrel we were currently hiding behind.

"That's right. We're only in charge of production. Let the big wigs at the castle worry about anything else," the young man assured the others. "Alright, come along, now. Hurry up!"

At that point the young man walked out of the hut with Vivi in tow, the last two behind him. I readied myself but a hand grasped my collar. I looked around and gave Dawn a look that clearly stated that I wasn't going to let these guys traumatize my friend any more. I then stepped over to the men, the collar of my coat wrenching out of Dawn's grasp.

"That's my friend you've got there," I growled at the men, who all turned to see me standing almost a foot taller than all three.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" the young man asked, clearly thinking that a three on one fight was odds against me. In response I took out Kuroshikon and studied the edge for a moment before glaring at the one who spoke. All three gulped at the silent promise of pain if things didn't go my way.

"Now, we're not going to fight about this, are we?" I asked in a civilised but dark tone.

"N-no," the young man stuttered in fear, his companions shaking violently.

"Good. Now run along. And if you even think about sending backup, I'll hunt you down, tear out your entrails and strangle you with them!" I finished off with an evil glint in my eyes. I then sidestepped to the left and glared as the three men bolted down the path that we came from.

As soon as they were out of sight, I sighed, replaced my sword back on my back and looked at Dawn apologetically. "Sorry for getting a bit graphic there, but there's nothing like a bit of fear to get people to do what you want."

I then bent down to Vivi's level. "You ok Kiddo? Nothing broken? Any bruises or cuts?"

"No…" he replied quietly.

"Next time something like that happens, you just light their asses on fire with a Fire spell, ok?" I asked. Vivi blinked in surprise at such a tactic, but he nodded.

I then stood up and turned to Dawn, who was waiting patiently for me to finish checking over Vivi. "Now, what's up?"

She didn't answer me straight away, but simply walked over and placed her hand lightly against the sticker on the barrel. "This symbol… I've seen the exact same symbol on some of the barrels at the castle. I think there's a connection between this secret underground… place, and Alexandria Castle. I need to know what that connection is!"

"Ok. So you don't want us charging in, so to speak. Keep a low profile until the facts become known to us?" I asked.

"Yes, that's right," she replied, nodding. "I was going to ask you to not confront those men, but…"

"I understand, but I wasn't going to stand here and let them traumatise Vivi any more than he's already been. He's my friend. You both are. So naturally, for me, getting him out of danger was my first priority," I explained.

"Yes, I understand that," she replied.

"We'll sneak from here on out. Get an idea of what this place is on about. Seems to me that most of the villagers work down here and that whatever they're doing, it's paid work. They're supplying. But what it is they're supplying is still somewhat a mystery. Though it seems we know the delivery destination already. Let's go find out, shall we?" I asked. They both nodded.

I then looked around and spotted a potion vial on the ground, partially hidden from sight. I picked it up and turned to the others. "I know stealing is wrong, but we still need supplies. And I'd rather not spend our money unless we really need to, unless we're filthy rich. So if you see anything worth picking up in the way of potions, ethers or spare gil, then do so." I then handed the potion to Dawn. "Since you still need practice with using White Magic, you'll be in charge of healing with potions, ok?" She nodded and took the potion, tucking it into her own pouch. "I'm quite responsible with money so I'll hang onto the gil. Have a look around and see if you can find anything before we move on."

As Dawn and Vivi searched for useful items, I walked over and studied the chocobo. Their design looked the same as in FFXIV: A Realm Reborn. But this chocobo looked frail and thin. I looked up to see that some Gyshal Greens were hanging just out of reach of the poor bird. So I drew my sword and cut the greens off. The chocobo ran toward the greens, quickly gobbling them up.

"You _were_ hungry, weren't you?" I asked as I reached out and patted the yellow bird on its neck. In response the chocobo raised its head and rubbed it against me affectionately. I chuckled before movement caught my eye and I saw Vivi at the fence, looking wide eyed at the creature.

"It's ok. Come and have a pat," I said. His eyes lit up and he scrambled over a short part of the fence. He walked up next to it and hesitated before bringing his hand up to rub it's side. The chocobo whistled appreciatively and nuzzled its head against Vivi, causing the little black mage to giggle.

"Maybe we can set this one free. It's not doing it any good being here. Chocobos need sun and plenty of food and this one's getting neither," I said before walking over to the fence, drawing my sword and cutting a large hole in it. I then beckoned the bird over and it obediently walked over and through the gap with Vivi behind it.

"So, did you find anything?" I asked Vivi. He nodded and presented a small glass vial with a clear liquid inside.

"I think that's Eye Drops. Good for clearing your eyes out if a blind status spell is used on someone. We can use that. Give it to Dawn. She's our healer," I said. He nodded and gave it to Dawn.

"What about you? Anything?" She shook her head. "Ahh, no matter. Let's get going then."

In the next room we saw a few coffin like boxes stacked roughly in a corner. There was another Potion and an Ether in this room, as well as a moving barrel. Turned out there was a moogle named Kumop inside. He decided to join us until we made it outside.

We eventually came across a large room with what looked like a giant upturned metal bucket. Complex machinery poked out of most of the surface and a hole in the side spat out what looked like eggs that slowly moved on a conveyor belt down a hallway.

"What is that thing?" Vivi asked.

"I dunno…" I murmured. "Some kind of processor machine." I then looked to the left and saw a large double door with what looked like smoke drifting out from the crawlspace at the bottom. I walked over and took a closer look. "No, not smoke… Mist."

I decided against opening the door and we continued on, walking alongside the conveyor belt, all the while Dawn and Vivi gawked at the eggs. In the next room we came across another chocobo, this time it was driving the conveyor belt. Again, there was a large sprig of gyshal greens just out of its reach. I wanted to help it, but knew that it would blow our stealth plan. So we continued on after I explained to the freed chocobo that we couldn't free its friend. Strangely enough, I felt that it understood. The other chocobo was too preoccupied to notice us move through.

As we continued on, we came across a small hole in which we could hear cracking sounds. "Are the eggs… hatching?" Dawn asked in confusion.

"I have a feeling we'll know just up ahead," I replied before leading the party onwards into the next room.


	9. Chapter 9: Second Movement of the Waltz

**Chapter 9: Second Movement of the Waltz**

"What?! What is this?"

We had moved into a large open cavern. And we saw fully sized Black Mages being moved along a moving machine track overhead. Metal claws were gripping their heads as they were pulled further into the cavern, for packing most likely. They didn't seem to be activated and they made no movements other than the occasional jerk when each claw ran across a flawed piece of the track.

I stayed silent as Dawn and Vivi took in the sight. "Wh-What… is this?" the little black mage whispered in a horrified tone. "Are they… dolls?"

At that point my ears caught the sound of someone approaching. I motioned for the moogle and the chocobo to hide somewhere and the moogle understood before he whispered quickly into the bird's ear. It gave a soft 'kweh' before jumping to the side and hiding behind two tall stacks of boxes side by side.

"Why…? Is my mother behind this?" Dawn asked, sounding just as horrified as Vivi, but for different reasons.

Having no time to explain, I released my wings, grabbed Vivi with one arm and wrapping the other around Dawn's waist before flying up and pinning ourselves to the ceiling, out of sight. Unless someone looked up.

"Ahh! What are you doing, Josh?" Dawn asked in surprise.

"Just shush!" I replied before we turned our heads to look down. A young man, different from the others before, came up the path we came by. "Hey! Did you say somethin'?" he called out to a worker on the far side of the cavern.

"Uhh… no? I didn't say anything," the worker called back.

"Ohh… never mind," the young man replied. "Still, it's almost time to load up the airship! Hurry it up, will ya?"

"I hear ya!"

"You hear that?" I asked. "There's an airship outside. That's our exit to Lindblum."

"But how are we going to get over there? We'll be caught," Dawn said.

"Hey, don't worry. I got an idea," I replied with a confident grin. At that point I released from the ceiling and glided us down silently to where the chocobo and the moogle were hiding.

"Hey… uhh… what was your name again?" I asked the moogle embarrassedly.

"Kumon, kupo!" he replied.

"Right, Kumon. Can you and our feathered friend here bust through to the outside, creating a distraction for us to move through without being caught?" I asked.

The chocobo whistled in what sounded like an affirmative tone.

"She says that she can easily do so," Kumon replied.

"Wait… she can understand me? And it's a she?" I asked.

"Of course it's a she. Isn't it obvious, kupo?" Kumon asked.

"Ahh… of course it is," I smiled nervously, not liking the look the chocobo was giving me.

"And all adult chocobos can understand what we say. It's only you who can't understand what they say, kupo," the moogle said.

"Well, I did not know that. Thanks," I replied, rubbing my hand against the newly realised female chocobo's face. She, in turn, rubbed her head against me in fondness, followed by a series of whistling.

"She wants to thank you for releasing her, kupo. She was close to giving up all hope of escape before you came along and she's grateful," Kumon said.

"Ohh, well, you're quite welcome… uhh… miss?" I replied, not sure on how to address a female chocobo who understood what I was saying. I got another friendly nuzzle before she stood ready.

"Good luck," I said, with Dawn and Vivi nodding their agreements.

"You too, kupo!" Kumon replied before the chocobo gave a warlike cry and jumped up high and over the crates with Kumon holding on for dear life. We quickly lost sight of them, but judging from all the racket and outcries of surprise, as well as a healthy dose of country swearing that made Dawn and Vivi's eyes widen, the duo were doing their job well.

"Ok, let's go!" I said and we made a break for it. I used my wings to help them over the crates blocking the way before we sprinted out of there.

Even though the inside of the cavern was well lit, the bright sun still made me squint while my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. In the few seconds it took for me to adjust, I listened for any signs of pursuit. I heard none. "Guys, I think we managed to get through without anyone noticing," I said, blinking rapidly.

The other two didn't reply, so I looked over to see them gawking at a sight behind me. I turned and saw the Dali airship, hovering several meters above the ground. There was no-one around so the last of the crates must've already been loaded. I also saw a boiling dark cloud front bearing down on us and the wind was being sucked toward the incoming storm. It was perhaps half an hour away from us. The airship would most likely leave before the storm got here.

"Ahh, there's the airship," I smiled as I shielded my eyes from the sun's glare.

"This is going to Lindblum?" Dawn asked.

"It will when I get behind the wheel," I grinned.

"…princeeeeeeess…" came a faint, obnoxious and familiar call. I turned to the source and sighed.

"Great, if it isn't Lord Moodkiller himself," I muttered disdainfully.

After about 2 minutes of waiting for him to arrive and stop panting hard from his run, Steiner bellowed out, "Princess, what in Gaia's going on?"

"We just got here," I replied, only for the armoured man to snap his head in my direction and glare at me. "I was addressing the Princess, not you, you scoundrel!"

"You need to work on your insults," I sighed.

"Steiner!" Dawn said firmly and the knight knew what that meant. "Yes, Your Highness," he replied in a meek tone. She then walked over and leaned up against me to whisper into my ear. "Josh, I don't know what to say to Vivi. I never knew anything like this was happening at the castle."

"Not to worry. We'll stay by his side and get him through this," I whispered back, blushing a bit at Dawn's closeness. I then turned to Steiner. "Hey rust bucket, you know where this tub is heading?"

There was a long pause before he replied stutteringly, "… . Yes, to Lindblum."

"Well that's useful-" I broke off as I felt something close in onto us. I looked in the direction to see a blue speck shoot toward us from the storm front. Then the speck entered the light and I instantly recognised it.

"The next Black Waltz," I muttered as I drew my sword and stepped in front of the princess. At that point the Waltz teleported several times to disorient us while showing off its power for intimidation purposes.

"Princess Garnet, the queen is waiting for you at the castle!" the blue robed construct boomed out. Its wings were more formed than no.1's was, however it still looked like a badly put together toy. But props for it looking much more intimidating than no.1 did, though that wasn't much of an improvement.

"Black Waltz no. 2, I presume?" I asked civilly, but didn't relax my stance. "I met your buddy no.1 yesterday."

"So you are the one who defeated No.1. I am Black Waltz No.2!" the thing replied grandly. "My power, magic and speed make me far superior to No. 1! Resistance is futile!"

"Well it shouldn't be that hard to back up that claim, since No. 1 was lame in all areas… except for summoning that monster. I assume you're more direct in your attacks?"

"Indeed. No. 1 was an inferior defective unit. I am a powerful prototype," No. 2 said before it focused on Dawn. "Come, Princess. The queen awaits!"

"No! I will not return to the castle," Dawn said adamantly. I smiled at her determination.

"Come with me, or you will regret it!" the Waltz threatened.

"Wait! I, Steiner, shall escort the princess back to the castle!" Steiner announced, but No. 2 just laughed him off.

"You think I care?" it giggled insanely before its eyes hardened. "I won't let you stand in the way of my mission!" The Waltz then dove for Steiner, who was unprepared for its advance, but I released my wings and darted in between them, blocking the Waltz's strike against him. No.2 instantly teleported away to a safe distance, unsure at how to approach this new development.

"Leave this puffed up bag of tricks to me," I said loudly before I took off toward it, who instantly accepted my challenge and did the same. I brought my sword around from the right in a heavy but fast two handed swing. But Two teleported out of the path of the swing and reappeared behind me with a Fire spell prepped for firing. I rolled in mid-air to barely block the spell, using Kuroshikon as a shield. Fiery sparks exploded from impact and barely skimmed over my face. I closed my eyes to protect them and when I opened them half a second later, Two was diving for Dawn.

"Oh no you don't!" I growled out before speeding towards it to cut it off. I quickly caught up, but then Two halted for a fraction of a second, twisted around and fired a Thunder at me. The spell struck me square in the chest and I cried out in pain as the hit threw me backwards and I came skidding to a halt on the grass.

"Fuck!" I swore as electricity coursed through my arms and legs. I looked up painfully to see Vivi and Steiner doing their best to keep Two away from Dawn. I then blinked as I realised that I couldn't see her.

"Don't worry. Just give me a moment," a soft, but worried voice said and I looked to the side to see Dawn with her hands out towards me. White energy swirled around her before it flowed into me. I instantly felt much better. I flexed my hands to make sure they weren't paralysed by the spell and sighed in relief as they responded. I looked over to see that Vi and Steiner weren't doing so well. Two simply flew into the air whenever Steiner tried to take a swipe at it with his sword and every time Vivi blasted a Fire spell it's way, Two simply teleported out of the way.

"Those wings are annoying. If I can surprise it, and remove the wings, that'll put it on the ground with no escape," I said out loud. I then turned to Dawn. "Keep them alive while I try to sneak up on him," I told her before I took to the sky. Only I didn't head straight for the Waltz. Instead I climbed higher and higher into the air until I must've been 1000 feet in the air. I then waited and watched the Waltz intently.

After about a minute I discovered two things. The first was that Two needed to be in the air to teleport, and that the Waltz needed to be still to use magic. While it was quite quick in charging up its spells, that window lengthened when using its Tier 2 spells. It also couldn't teleport while charging up the spells. By now the three were almost ready to collapse from exhaustion and Dawn was down to using potions. I didn't have long.

And then, as if realising that the party was on their last legs, the Black Waltz 2 began charging up a Fira spell to finish them off, while making sure Dawn wouldn't be caught in the firing range.

'Now!' I thought before I nosedived and shot straight towards the Waltz. In turn it seemed to notice something was wrong when Dawn looked up to watch me speeding towards the adversary. The Waltz looked up and its eyes widened in surprise. It then tried to move its body out of the way, but I wasn't aiming for its body.

As I passed the Waltz on the way to the ground, I swung out with my sword and sliced off both wings, making them black feathery stumps. As I reached the ground I hit the brakes with my wings and brought myself to a halt before looking up. I instantly knew that something was wrong. The Fira spell was still there, but it now looked to be destabilizing big time. In the meantime the Waltz was trying desperately to bring it under control, while also trying to land on its feet.

In a split second I made my decision. I flew to Vivi and Dawn, picked them up and wrapped them up in my wings, just as the spell exploded in the Waltz's face. The heat from the explosion washed over me, but thankfully we were far enough away that it didn't burn me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Steiner bouncing and rolling away from the shockwave.

At this point I closed my eyes and waited for the blast to calm down. As soon as I did, I unfurled my wings around the two I protected and looked over at the point of destruction.

Only to see the damn Black Waltz still alive, albeit smoking at the edges. Black mist wisped out of the blackened stumps where its wings used to be. And its eyes were now glowing red.

'Uhoh… did I hit the overclock button by accident on that thing?' I wondered privately.

However the Waltz just stood there. But I had a gut feeling that it wasn't going to stay there for very long.

"Princess!" Steiner yelled in worry as he clanked over toward us. "Are you ok, Princess?"

"I'm fine, Steiner. Josh protected Vivi and I," she replied.

"You!" he growled at me, fist shaking in anger.

I turned to him, my demeanour so serious it caught him off guard. "Steiner, while I'd love to trade insults with you again, right now the safety of the Princess is paramount. Would you be willing to work with me to take this Waltz down in service to that directive?"

Steiner paused before ne nodded silently.

"Excellent. Now, I believe that this fight isn't over. But the Waltz is right on the edge. It won't take much to take it out, but Two's in a powerful state right now. It might be so damaged that it might attack Dawn along with us with an area of effect spell like Fira."

"What?!"

"Calm down Steiner. You won't help the Princess by acting like a hot headed greenhorn," I cautioned.

Steiner paused in what would probably have been a blind charge toward the Waltz.

"Now, I suggest we employ a team version of the feint and strike strategy. You with me?" I asked in a whisper.

Steiner paused but nodded. Vivi however, didn't get it. So I bent down and whispered in his ear the tactic to him so the Waltz wouldn't get the chance to overhear. I wasn't taking any chances with this guy.

"Ok. The order of attack is Steiner, me, then Vivi. Repeat until this guy is down for good. Ready?"

The two nodded.

I turned to Dawn. "Be ready to run if he decides to cast Fira or some other Tier 2 spell. We can take it."

Dawn was hesitant, but nodded. At that point, the Waltz announced it was still functioning.

"Capture… Princess… Must… capture… the," the Waltz spoke in disjointed words.

"Ok. Let's do this!" I said before Steiner, Vivi and I charged toward the Waltz.

I struck first with a swipe at the Waltz's head, but it moved out of the way, surprisingly still quite fast, but now that it couldn't teleport using speed and its wings, said speed had dropped dramatically. At that point Vivi let off a blast of Fire at the Waltz, but it dodged that as well. But now, with Two's attention directed at us, Steiner came in and cut deep into the Waltz's side with a steady slash. The Waltz doubled over, black mist seeping out of the wound, but it raised its hand and blindly fired off a Thunder spell. However, even if it was a blind shot, it still came close to clipping Vivi and he dove to the side as the electricity buzzed past like a swarm of angry bees.

Now that the Waltz's attention was on Steiner, the knight came in with an overhead strike. The Waltz dodged to the side, the blade whistling past. It seemed Two's speed had taken another hit. Then Vivi struck out with another spell, a Blizzard. I dunno when he learned that one, but it was about time he knew a new spell. Shards of ice formed and surrounded the Waltz before they all shot towards and struck it, dealing damage and slowing it down even more. Here I took my chance and charged in from behind, lopping off one of its arms. Black mist spewed out of this maiming with the arm dissolving into black mist itself.

The Waltz, in its damaged condition, still seemed to realise that one of its arms was gone. In that realisation, the Waltz raised its one good arm and began to charge up a Fira spell, intent on destroying us all along with itself. It was a suicide move.

"Oh crap!" I swore and prepared to rush Two, but movement out of the corner of my eye took my attention off the Waltz. It was Steiner, his sword blazing red hot with fire energy. The knight charged forward and struck the Waltz square in the chest. The magical energy exploded forward from the tip of the sword and blew the Black Waltz away, the Fira spell once again destabilizing and exploding. However the force of Steiner's Magic Sword move forced the shockwave away from him, blasting the many bits and pieces of the late Black Waltz no2 across the grassy field, trailing black mist.

I sighed in relief as the black vapour dissolved away into nothing, leaving behind, once again, a large pouch of gil. I walked over to it, picked up the bag and placed it in the pouch that Zidane had given me. I then turned to Steiner as he gazed at his sword in a small amount of surprise.

"That was a nice move Steiner. You handled that spell fairly well," I congratulated him and he blinked as his surprise turned to confusion at my statement.

"Well, that's No.2 gone. No.3 is still out there so be alert," I warned.

"How did this one find us so quickly? Have I not been careful enough?" Dawn asked.

"Your noble upbringing cannot be disguised so easy," Steiner replied.

"Says the guy who hasn't seen her since last night. You don't know, but Dawn is a very fast learner. She's picked up on a lot of commoner characteristics and has quickly modified them over her own speech. Which is way more than I can say for you," I said.

"What!" Steiner bellowed.

I sighed. "Your way of speech is more locked into being a knight. That's to be expected since you're a grown man and she is… uh… How old are you?" I asked, suddenly apprehensive.

"I turned 18 a few days ago. The play at Alexandria was for my birthday," she replied.

'Oh thank god!' I thought in my head. If she had been 16 like her game version, I would've had to give up on her… at least for the next 2 years. "Right, 18. Therefore she has a greater capacity for learning then you do as she's younger. However, you also run around yelling 'Princess!' at the top of your lungs. While some people might take that as a pet name for a father doting a little too much on their daughter, it's just suspicious for you when you wear knights armour."

"How dare you!" Steiner growled loudly. But paused when I held up my hand.

"But that is neither here nor there. The Waltzs know where we are and have been converging on us. Perhaps they've been using magic to locate Dawn. It doesn't matter. For now, let's worry about getting Dawn to Lindblum. You said that the airship was heading for the castle city?" I asked.

"I-I did," Steiner replied hesitantly.

"Maybe I should double check-" I started.

"I-I shall go check with them," the knight butted in.

"Really?" I asked with fake but well-acted surprise.

"You shouldn't be surprised! I am only doing this for the princess!" he replied. He then ran towards the rope ladder rigged from a small platform on the back of the airship and began climbing up it.

I chuckled and said, "Ahh, Steiner. How easy it is to manipulate your mind into doing what I want. I almost feel guilty about this."

"You mean…?" Dawn began and I nodded.

"I can add 2 and 2 together. Barrels seen in Alexandria produced here, and an airship being loaded up with said barrels. And finally, Steiner being ok with you going to Lindblum via this airship. All leads to Alexandria being the intended destination," I replied.

"But I don't want to go back," she replied desperatly.

"I know. That's why we're gonna hijack the airship and go to Lindblum," I replied with a grin.

Dawn's eyes widened at this. "Ohh… I see," she replied.

"Josh?" a timid voice said and I turned to see Vivi. I walked over and crouched down. "Yeah kiddo?"

"Those dolls they were making underground… Do you think they look like me?" he asked, voice trembling.

"I won't pretend that there aren't some similarities. But there are some major differences. Like your height. And the fact that you're way cuter then they are, which I'm sure every female on the planet will agree with me there, right Dawn?" I asked.

"That's right," she nodded with a smile.

"There's also the fact that you're walking around, conversing, learning and experiencing life. It doesn't look like they're doing a lot of that," I added. "Don't worry about it too much."

There was a sudden loud noise as the propellers on the airship whirred into life. "Well, it seems that the airship is taking off." I then turned to Vivi. "You still coming with?" He nodded immediately. I smiled before turning to Dawn. "And you? Do you trust me to get you to Lindblum safe and sound?"

She looked up at the airship before back at me, her face determined. "I do trust you," she said.

At that moment the propellers increased in speed and the airship rose up off the ground. The ladder was now too far to jump for it.

In response I released my wings, placed my hands under Vivi's arms and we flew into the air quickly. I deposited him on the balcony. "Be back in a jiffy," I replied before I leaned back and freefell for a few moments before stretching out my wings and stabilized. I then slowly moved down toward Dawn until I was at arm's length from her. I then held out my hand to her. "Shall we go, princess?" I asked with a smile. She responded with her own smile and grasped my hand. I then hoisted her into my arms and we rose up with me carrying Dawn bridal style to the airship.

'A bit more of this romantic guardian angel stuff and she's gonna fall for me. All according to plan,' I thought in my head with a grin as I tried not to focus on how soft her lower thighs were as that was one of the spots my hands were gripping to keep her from falling, the other was on her back. While it probably wasn't as good as the ass grope that Zidane did in the game, at least this way didn't get her pissed off at me. And besides, I wasn't going to take advantage of such a position if presented to me. I might be a total perv, but I wasn't barbaric. I was a gentleman… on the outside.

We rose until I was level with the balcony. Vivi had already gone inside. I held her out and she hopped onto the balcony. In turn I gripped the railing from the outside and placed a foot in between two posts in the railing. I dismissed my wings before vaulting over the railing and onto the balcony.


	10. Chapter 10: Requiem of the Final Waltz

**Chapter 10: Requiem of the Final Waltz**

No sooner had I landed on the floor, a soft gasp came from inside. Trading a look with Dawn, I opened the door and we walked inside. To see Vivi trying to talk to an activated black mage currently tending the engine.

"Hello…" Vivi began, but the mage continued his work as if there was no-one behind him.

"Looks like a couple of these guys were activated to run the airship and transport the newly built units to the castle," I said to Dawn, who was also staring at the larger black mage.

"U-um…" Vivi began again, but he still didn't get any response or reaction. However he did move along the engine to a spot closer to us and began tinkering with that section.

"Oh, Vivi…" Dawn sighed in sympathy.

"Hey, kiddo!" I called out to him. He tried one last time to get the attention of the other mage before he gave up and walked over to us, his head slumped in dejection.

"Doesn't look like you had any luck getting them to talk back," I said.

"No… it's like… they don't even… see me at all… I tried… again and again… but… they won't even turn around," he replied in fragments.

"They probably won't respond to anything but orders given from people in authority," I replied. He didn't reply, but continued to look down at the floor.

I then looked back at Dawn. "I'm gonna turn this tub around. Think you can watch Vi for me?" She nodded before laying a hand on Vivi's shoulder. In turn, I walked up the corridor toward the ladder leading up to the deck. On the way, I glanced at the engine, noting it looked really old. Nothing like the mist engine I saw in Dali. I also happened to look out a window and saw Evil Forest in the distance, moving toward us. Absently I wondered how Zidane was doing and whether he was back with Tantalus.

Upstairs on deck I saw Steiner moaning to himself. I shook my head in amusement as I heard his ramblings, my hair whipping behind me in the wind.

"How could this happen…? What am I to do…? I never expected things to go so badly. I cannot believe the ship took off without the princess! What will I say to the Queen?"

"Well lucky for you, I managed to get them on before the airship got too far off the ground," I said from behind him.

The metal plates on his cheap looking armour set wrenched loudly as Steiner gave a start and turned around to see me. ""Why, you…! Where is the princess!?"

"Down below with Vivi," I replied, not fazed at his angry look.

"She is on the ship!?" Steiner blinked, his anger vanishing to hope.

"I just said that," I replied flatly.

Steiner sighed in relief before smirking at me. "All is well, now. This ship is returning to the castle. You will be hanged for the kidnapping of a member of the royal family! Enjoy your freedom while you can." He then ran over to the hatch that lead back below and stood guard.

'…Wow, what a clueless moron,' I thought to myself, shaking my head pitifully at him before making my way to the cockpit.

Inside was a black mage at the helm. The wheel looked just like the steering wheel on a seafaring ship from the 17th century.

"Hi there! Do you mind if I hijack this airship?" I asked in a chipper tone. Of course I got no response from the pilot. "I'll take your silence as a 'yes' then!" I then moved til I was next to him, bent at the waist sideways to shove him to the side, grabbed the wheel and turned without a care in the world. I braced myself as the airship lurched to the side in a wide turning circle. Wood and steel creaked and moaned as the airship turned in the right direction.

At this point I began to whistle the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. I dunno why I decided to do it. Maybe because now I was officially a pirate? Good enough reason as any. Besides, there was no way I was doing Zidane's Theme. The dude may be a cool monkey, but his theme song sucked ass. And the black mage pilot just looked at me and did nothing as I whistled cheerfully away, turning the airship in the direction of Lindblum.

However a loud clanking sound reached my ears and I knew that my fun was about to be soured. "Y-Y-Y" was what I heard from Steiner. It seemed that this latest action had finally rendered him speechless….

Well almost.

"Y-You insolent fool!" he yelled.

"You really need to spend, like, a whole night in the seedier part of any city. You'd learn a whole dictionary's worth of new swear words and insults," I replied pleasantly.

"Turn this ship around!" he thundered, diving towards me to give me a justified beating, at least in his mind. Knowing what he intended to do beforehand I was already removing my blade from my back. I jammed it into the floor and wedged the handle in between two spokes of the wheel so it couldn't be deviated off our current route. I then ducked under his right hook, rolled to the side, released my wings and flying up against the ceiling where I clung there, out of his reach. "I'm just following orders," I replied.

"Gaaaarh! I will have your head for that!" Steiner fumed.

"Again? I've only got the one head," I replied from above him. At that point I saw movement and I dismissed my wings, landing and wobbling slightly from the movement of the airship before steading and looking at the new attention the black mages were giving us.

"I hope I didn't piss them off," I muttered.

Steiner's rage forgotten for the moment, he looked at them too. "But they didn't respond to anything until now…" He then turned back to me and glared hatefully. "You're the one who started this trouble!" He then turned to the new arrivals. "I apologise. Please wait while I take this fool into custody and turn this ship around."

"Kissass," I muttered.

At that point the mages all turned around and left us alone. Steiner didn't know what to make of it, but I remembered what was coming up next. I ran to the wheel, removed my sword from wedging it in place and watched the events unfold.

I saw that Dawn and Vivi had arrived on deck. I couldn't tell what they were talking about, but then Dawn looked over at me. I gave her a casual two finger salute and she responded with a smile as she walked over to Steiner and I. But just as she reached the pilot cabin, Vivi was confronted with the final Black Waltz.

As soon as he landed he struck out at Vivi with lightning magic. I wasn't worried as spontaneous magic like that without taking a moment to charge up was very weak. But my hand still clenched around the wheel as Vivi was thrown back a bit from the strike. In response Dawn ran out of the cabin and halted at Vivi's side. I couldn't hear what the Waltz was saying over the sound of the wind and airship engine, so I took this moment to study him.

This Waltz was far more impressive and intimidating than the other two had been. His wings were fully matured, coloured dark blue and black, like a raven's. In his hand he wielded a staff. At that point the black mages arrived on the scene and put themselves in front of Vivi and Dawn. They all looked for a moment at the little black mage before focusing their attention on the Waltz. While the Waltz's attention was on the mages, Dawn dragged Vivi back to the cockpit.

"Josh! You have to help them!" Vivi pleaded to me.

"I can't, I'm flying the ship," I replied. The mages then began to power up a Fire spell shared between them. The Waltz flung one away with a Thunder spell, which destabilised the fireball, causing it to implode on itself, and an explosion immediately afterwards, sending the black mages tumbling back toward us. The shockwave of the blast shattered the window of the cockpit and I released my wings to protect Dawn from the glass. And all the time the Waltz just stood there, lightning cracking around him as he powered up. Barrels were flung into the air and overboard, ripped apart from the magic, showing inactive black mages inside. And then, it was over.

Vivi stumbled back in horror at the sight he just witnessed. Dawn gripped him from behind and held him close, comforting him silently. However it was short lived as the shadow of Black Waltz no.3 passed over us and we watched as he landed on the deck, lightning energy flickering all around him.

"Wh-what cruelty!" Steiner gasped out.

At that point Vivi finally snapped. He yelled out in fury and wrenched himself from Dawn's hands, accidentally knocking her to the floor. Steiner cried out to him but he didn't stop, so he ran after him, leaving me and the princess in the cockpit.

"Dawn?!" I called out, keeping my eyes up front.

"Y-yeah?" she asked.

"They'll need my help out there, so I need you to steer the ship."

"W-what?' she replied, startled.

"You can either go straight ahead to the South gate, or back to Alexandria if you feel you're getting in over your head. I know I said I'd take you to Lindblum, but you need to make that choice. I'll support you either way," I said before turning round and giving her a reassuring smile.

She stared at me for a moment with wide eyes before she nodded, got up and took hold of the wheel. I then released it and dashed out of the room.

"Be careful, Josh!" Dawn called out to me. I just gave her a thumbs up as I continued to run toward the faceoff.

I arrived as the third Black Waltz was laughing in a cruel tone. "Worry not about them: many more are being produced even now!"

"You must be no.3 then?" I asked as I halted next to Vivi.

"Ah, the princess's bodyguards have gathered! How very convenient! And you are correct. I am Black Waltz no.3. Not that it matters, since you're all going to die! Kwahahahaha!" The waltz cackled madly before pointing its crescent topped staff at us. "I will eliminate any who stand in my way!"

At that point a bright light caught my attention. I turned to see Vivi glowing brightly. The glow intensified before bursting off him. He no longer looked his normal timid self. He stood there, calm and collected, his clothes fluttering in the wind, and his mage hat, normally saggy and belt halfway at the back, was now straight. He held out both his hands and fired a Fire and Thunder spell at the same time. The fireball slammed into the Waltz and he staggered back, before the lightning bolt struck him from above.

But he recovered very quickly, firing a ball of fire back at Vivi, this one much larger than a normal Fire spell. It was on par with the area-of-effect Fira spell no.2 used on us not too long ago. Vivi staggered back from the blow, and while he regained his composure, it took more than a few seconds to do so. As Vivi recovered, Steiner and I rushed in, our swords glinting in the sunlight.

I struck first with a wide horizontal swipe, but the Waltz flew up and over my attack, clubbing me on the side of my neck with his staff as he did to. I stumbled back in time to see Steiner's sword glow with electric energy. He touched the spot underneath no.3 and released the energy, causing powerful bolts of electricity to surge up and coalesce around the Waltz, zapping him good.

I took this opening and thrust forward with Kuroshikon, but the Waltz flew to the side, but not before the tip cut across his side. Black mist wisped out, but not enough to show it was a critical strike. No.3 thrust out his hand and charged up a Fira spell directly in my face and I closed my eyes, bracing for what I thought was going to be a very painful hit, but then I felt a crackling sound wiz by my ear and a loud pop as Vivi threw another set of Thunder spells at the Waltz, staggering him backwards.

But at that moment the glow of Trance left Vivi, leaving him looking like he always did, but still very angry. The Waltz cackled again before blasting a Blizzard spell my way. I felt super cold air surround me and I collapsed to one knee, panting hard as small patches of ice froze onto my skin.

Then, after dodging Steiner's attack and clubbing him over the head, the Waltz charged up a spell and flung it at Vivi. Several lightning bolts struck Vivi and momentarily charged the area he was standing on with electricity. It was a Thundara spell and I cried out as Vivi dropped to his knees from the attack. I dashed over to him and fumbled in my pockets for a Potion. I then froze as I remembered that Dawn had them all.

"Shit!" I cursed, mentally kicking myself for such a rookie mistake before turning back to the Waltz, who was giving Steiner a beating.

'No choice. I rush him hard and fast and hope I damage him enough he'll retreat,' I thought to myself before I released my wings and let the wind push me towards the Waltz. He looked over at me and I could see the surprise in his eyes. Most likely from my wings. Without hesitating I struck true and dealt him a critical hit as my sword punched through his right shoulder. I dismissed my wings before the wind would carry us off the ship and withdrew my blade, jumping backward to put some distance between us.

The Waltz clutched his shoulder, black mist seeping through his gloved hand. "You… You scum…!" he grated out, his voice slightly distorted from the damage it had received, probably from Vivi's repeated double Thunder attacks. "I exist only to kill!" He then flew up and away, quickly disappearing out of sight behind us.

Steiner growled loudly as he stomped the deck furiously. "Just how many Black Waltzes do we have to fight!? This is becoming ridiculous!"

"Take a moment to think about it. They're named after the waltz. So logically there's only three. He's the last, I'm sure of it," I replied, deciding not to add any imaginative name calling at him for the moment. That decision was sorely tested as Steiner frowned in thought for a moment, trying to discern what waltz meant. So to make sure I didn't make things worse, I took a look at the view in front of us. 'There's South Gate. So she's made her decision. Not that I had any doubts about that,' I thought with a smile. 'Oh shit! I forgot about Vivi. Better get a potion for him before that jackass returns.' I then ran back to where Dawn was.

"You drove it off?" she asked as I entered the cockpit.

"For the moment, but I reckon it won't be for long. Vivi took a hard hit, so I need a potion for him," I explained.

"Uhhh…" she replied uncertainly. I blinked before I noticed how hard she was gripping the steering wheel. 'Probably nervous about crashing, even though it's extremely unlikely up here,' I thought before nodding in understanding. "Just tell me where you put them."

"They're in my pouch," she replied, nodding to where her own infinite pouch was attached to her waist.

"Right," I replied and moved to open the pouch. My fingers drifted over her hip and I swallowed at how close my hands were to touching that wonderful ass of hers. 'C'mon Josh, focus on the potion, not her ass, despite how much you want to grope it,' I said mentally to myself as I felt myself get hard again. I quickly opened her pouch and gently dug around until I felt the cool touch of glass at my fingertips. I pulled out a test tube of blue liquid that glowed softly. "Bingo!" I muttered before clipping the pouch shut and taking a quick step backward. "Sooo… I see you're going for South Gate. No thinking twice about it?"

She shook her head. "Ok then. I'll get us ready." I then walked off toward the prow of the ship, completely missing the blush on her face.

My boots clomped heavily on the wooden boards of the deck as I slowed to a halt next to Vivi. "Here kiddo. Drink up," I said as I handed the Potion I liberated from Dawn. He nodded gratefully to be before popping the top and drinking its luminous contents. I walked over to the side as the airship drifted down to prepare for its entry through the gate. 'It's probably going through its kill mantra,' I thought as I searched for any sign of the impending attack.

'I'd better tell Dawn that she'll need to accelerate through the gate without stopping,' I thought before turning back towards the cabin. I walked in and Dawn glanced my way before returning her focus ahead.

"Dawn, we'll need to speed through this gate if we don't want to be detained by the border patrol. Think you can handle it?" I asked.

"Yeah… I want to do it on my own," she replied, grateful for my support

"Ok. We're at the correct altitude for entry so all that's needed is to guide her through. While they'll probably try to close the gate on us when they realise we're not slowing down for inspection, I reckon we'll sail through before it shuts completely," I explained, wanting Dawn to know our chances of success.

"Rodger!" she replied with enthusiasm, sounding confident.

"Okie dokie! I dunno much about engines but let's see if I can coax some more power out of the old beater," I grinned as I turned to the engine. Thankfully some of the levers were labelled so I wasn't totally in the dark. As I began to wrestle with a particularly stubborn one, Steiner clanked into the room.

"We must turn back!" he shrieked. "Princess! Please turn the ship around!"

"We've been over this Steiner…" I began but he ignored me outright.

"The Black Waltz is heading straight toward us on an airship!"

'Ahh, there we go,' I thought before turning back to the lever and giving it an almighty wrench. It screeched free and slid down. Instantly the whole engine seemed to shiver and the noise from it increased. "There we go!" I called before turning to Dawn. "Punch it! Get us through that gate!"

"Don't be ridiculous! What if the gate closes on us!?" Steiner bellowed back.

"If we're going fast enough, we'll slip through before the gate closes," I replied loudly. "I think I just hit an overclock of sorts so we've got the power to get us up to the speeds needed for this to work. Hopefully."

"Hopefully!?" Steiner roared.

"With luck the gate will close on our tailing annoyance," I replied. "You can do it Dawn! Just stay on course. I'm gonna be outside and make sure he doesn't try to blow us up!"

I then exited the bridge and steadied myself against the wind as Dawn wove the airship through the high mountains toward the gate. As I made my way over to Vivi, a dark shape darted overhead and I looked over to see the Waltz, his eyes glowing slightly red. 'Crap, it's almost in its overclock mode, like the Waltz before it.'

No.3 levelled it's airship next to us and began to charge up a powerful Thunder spell. But Vivi acted first by quickly gathering energy and firing a speedy blast of fire right into it's face. This sent the small airship tumbling away and behind us, smoke trailing from the edges. At this moment Vivi fainted from the energy he expended on the emergency spell, as he hadn't had enough time to recover completely. I slowly made my way over to Vivi and grabbed him into my arms as we entered the gate, the massive sliding doors already closing on us.

The rush of wind caused by the narrow gap we whizzed through caught me slightly off guard. I was unprepared for just how strong it would be. The air blast took me off my feet and slammed me into the front wall of the bridge. Vivi flew out of my arms and landed in a heap next to me, but safe. I heaved myself up, just as the Waltz in his airship caught up with us inside the gate.

'I don't want that thing to take out anyone else, even damaged. I need to kill it!' I thought before I once again felt that now familiar energy spiral out of me. But unlike the last two times where the energy was white or black, this time it was golden energy and I felt a focused fury coursing through me. Kuroshikon flashed three glyphs before glowing and… splitting into two orbs before they attached to my hands. I wrapped my fingers around grips while the golden energy around me solidified itself around me.

I found myself garbed in yellow robes and shorts. My arms were bare. Armour was strapped to my shoulders, feet and lower arms. A metal circlet was around my head with a long black and white streamer like feather attached to the left side. And then the glow from my weapons disappeared, leaving me clutching two white and black metal knuckle gloves in the shape of a big cat's head.

As before I knew exactly what I needed to do. So with a big flap of my resurfaced wings I flew off the side of the cargo ship and landed heavily on No.3's airship, splintering the floor in the process.

"Who… _what_ are you!?" the Waltz asked, it's eyes momentarily confused.

"**While I know for the most part you have no free will of your own and that you were ordered to do this by your superiors, you cannot be suffered to live any longer," **I replied in a loud voice that seemed to reverberate from everywhere. I then smashed my fist into the airship and the whole thing blew apart.

At that point time slowed to a crawl. I dashed past the Waltz, golden energy trailing behind me and I struck out as I passed it. I rebounded off a piece of the dead machinery and struck the Waltz again. I repeated the processes 7 times before I smashed my fist into the Waltz's gut and released all the remaining Trance energy inside me. The result was a massive pillar of white energy laced with light blue energy and four extra thinner pillars surrounding the main one. And so the Black Waltz no.3 came to a violent and instantaneous end.

With the energy of the Trance expended, I had just enough of my own energy to return to the cargo ship, just as we sped through the other end of the closing South gate. I collapsed onto the deck, breathing hard. But I smiled tiredly and pumped my fist into the air weakly. "Made it…"


End file.
